A groundbreaking new cervical cancer treatment regimen has reduced the risk of death by 40%, marking the most significant advance in cervical cancer care in 25 years.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, with approximately 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths annually. Many of those affected are women in their 30s, and despite advancements in care, the cancer recurs in nearly 30% of cases.
The new treatment approach, conducted over a decade, involved patients from the UK, Mexico, India, Italy, and Brazil. It integrates a short course of chemotherapy before the standard chemoradiation treatment, aiming to improve survival rates and reduce relapses.
The phase-three clinical trial, led by researchers at University College London (UCL), demonstrated a 40% reduction in mortality risk and a 35% reduction in cancer recurrence over at least five years.
Dr. Mary McCormack, lead investigator of the trial at UCL, described the discovery as the most transformative breakthrough in cervical cancer treatment since the late 1990s.
“This is the biggest gain in survival since the adoption of chemoradiation in 1999,” McCormack told The Guardian UK.
“Every improvement in survival for a cancer patient is critical, especially when the treatment is well-tolerated and administered over a relatively short period, allowing women to return to their normal lives more quickly.”
The research was carried out by UCL and University College London Hospital (UCLH), involving a long-term follow-up of patients who received chemotherapy before chemoradiation. The Interlace trial, the foundation of the study, tested whether a short induction chemotherapy regimen could reduce relapse and mortality among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that had not metastasized to other organs.
The trial involved 500 women who were randomly assigned to receive either the new treatment protocol or the standard chemoradiation regimen. None of the participants’ tumours had spread beyond the cervix.
Patients in the new treatment group underwent six weeks of chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by standard chemoradiation—weekly cisplatin with radiotherapy and brachytherapy. The control group received only the conventional chemoradiation treatment.
After five years, 80% of patients who had undergone the new treatment regimen were alive, and 72% had no recurrence or spread of cancer. By contrast, in the standard treatment group, 72% survived, and 64% remained free of recurrence or metastasis.
Further analysis by UCL confirmed a 40% reduction in the risk of death and a 35% decrease in the likelihood of cancer recurrence when comparing the two treatment groups.
Following the trial’s success, there are growing calls for the new treatment regimen to be implemented across the UK and adopted internationally to improve outcomes for cervical cancer patients worldwide.
