Response of External Radiotherapy Alone in Stage IIB – IIIC Cervical Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic response and toxicity in cervical cancer patients with stage IIB-IIIC who undergo external radiation. Methods: This was a retrospective study using the medical records of the Obstetric Oncology and Radiotherapy Department at Prof. Dr. R. D. Kandou Hospital Manado. The research subjects were stage IIB-IIIC cervical cancer patients who underwent external radiation from September 2016 to December 2020. External radiation was administrated using 60Cobalt. The statistical analysis assessments in this study was carried out using descriptive analysis, while the analysis of the relationship was carried out using the Chi-Square method. The toxicity assessments were carried out from first day started external radiation up until 1 month after the therapy was deemed completed. Results: As many as 413 cervical cancer patients underwent external radiation during the study. However, only 192 cervical cancer patients with stage IIB-IIIC met the inclusion criteria in this study. The complete response to the therapy based on the findings was 65.6%, the partial response was 31.8%, the stable response was 1.6%, and the progressive response was 1%. In statistical analysis there was a significant association between cervical cancer stage and Overall Treatment Time with response to external radiotherapy. However, no significant association between tumor size and histopathological type with response to external radiotherapy. There were hematological toxicity (45.8%), skin toxicity (45.3%), gastrointestinal toxicity (6.3%) and urinary tract toxicity (2.6%). Conclusion: External radiotherapy response was a complete response where there was an association between cervical cancer stage and Overall Treatment Time with response to external radiotherapy, whereas there is no significant association found between the tumor size and histopathological type based on this research's findings. Most toxicity were hematology with complaints of anemia and thrombocytopenia.