We worked on the research that lasted about ten years 500 participants. In this group, cervical cancer had been diagnosed at an advanced stage. Half of the group received the new treatment, which consisted of a six-week course of chemotherapy with radiation (chemoradiation) and the ‘usual’ radiation. The other half received the standard treatment.
After five years, 80 percent of those who received this new treatment were alive and in 73 percent the cancer had not returned or spread. By comparison, in the ‘normal’ treatment group, 72 percent were still alive and in 64 percent the cancer had not returned or spread.
Game changer
Gynecologist Ruud Bekkers of the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven is ‘very positive’ about the research. “If you look at the results, you see that the difference is still large after ten years. There are not many new therapies that yield 10 percent new gains after such a long time. That is the case with this one and that is why This is certainly promising.”
The drugs for this treatment are relatively cheap and have already been approved for use in patients. According to Bekkers, it is likely that this new treatment will also come to the Netherlands for cervical cancer.
“The conversation will certainly start about this. A colleague said that it will be a game changer. Another committee in the Netherlands will look at the research and whether there is enough evidence for the results. But as far as I am concerned, we should introduce this for patients .”
Cervical cancer is most often diagnosed in women in their early thirties. However, it can also occur in the elderly and that is why Bekkers would prefer to see prevention of the disease also taken into account. Such as the HPV vaccination. “If everyone takes it, then in a few years we won’t have this problem at all.”
2023-10-23 15:47:18
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