A survey on staging and treatment in uterine cervical carcinoma in the Radiotherapy Cooperative Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer

Background: The treatment outcome of advanced stage uterine cervical carcin oma remains unsatisfactory. In order to elaborate a novel trial within The Radiotherapy Cooperative Group (RCG) of the European Organization for Resea rch and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), we conducted a survey in 1997-1998 to determine the variability of pre-treatment assessment and treatment options . The variability of choosing surgery, defined radiation therapy techniques and chemotherapy are investigated, as well as the center's choices of futu re treatment strategies. Methods: Fifty two of 81 RCG centers from the RCG have participated in the survey. As one would expect, there is a large variation in the techniques u sed for pretreatment evaluation and treatment options. There is no 'standar d' for reporting acute and late side effects. Chemotherapy is used neither systematically nor uniformly, and some centers continue to use neadjuvant c hemotherapy modalities. Results: Furthermore, the survey reveals that there is a strong demand for the reduction of overall treatment-time, for clinical investigation of nove l combined modality treatment strategies, especially chemo-radiation therap y, and also for the use of new radiation sensitizers. Conclusion: We conclude that a more homogeneous approach to the pretreatmen t evaluation as well as treatment techniques is required in order to allow adequate quality control in any future trial of the RCG in the EORTC. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.