Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery in the curative treatment of inoperable cervical cancer. Report of one case with five-year survival

RECENTLY, the almost total futility of x-radiation as the sole therapeutic modality in the curative treatment of advanced inoperable cancer of the cervix uteri has been pointed out by Gollin and associates.1These clinicians have stated that although acceptable cure rates have been achieved in early lesions of the cervix by radiotherapy, in the advanced lesions "... only temporary improvement is all too often the end result." Chamberlain, a radiologist, speaking of cancer in general, has stated, "... surgical and radiation therapies were highly successful in early cases, but generally unsuccessful in advanced cases."2 Combined X-Radiation and Cancer Chemotherapy In the experimental field, Foye and associates3have demonstrated that either fluorouracil or cyclosphamide, in combination with external radiation, produced a longer survival time and slower tumor growth rate in mice with transplanted malignant tumors than could be achieved with either of these chemotherapeutic drugs administered without x-radiation. Allaire and