What is New about Cervical Cancer during Last Decade?

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the second most common female cancer worldwide. In Thailand, it also ranks the second most common cancer in female while the most common cancer is breast cancer. This is the national statistic reported in 2010 with the age-standardized incident rate 18.1 per 100,000 women year). There are approximate 500,000 new cases from all over the world each year. Around twenty-seven thousand cases died from the disease, Seventy percent of cervical cancer cases occur in developing countries. Although cervical cancer is a preventable disease, investigators still work hard to find the solution to eliminate it. Cervical cancer treatment has been studied; there are still many aspects of treatment modalities that are on developmental process. This article will focus in the changing views about cervical cancer and some of the update issues during past 10 years. In summary, surgery is ideal for young healthy women with small lesions. Occasionally, radiation, usually with chemotherapy, is recommended if high risk factors are discovered intra-operatively. Larger tumors are treated without surgery using a combination of radiation (external and internal therapy) and weekly cisplatin chemotherapy. Finally, for those with recurrent, metastatic or widespread lesions (stage IVB) participation in the four arm GOG protocol 204 is recommended.