CHICAGO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A study led by Northwestern Medicine found that radiation combined with chemotherapy therapy did not increase recurrence-free survival in women with stage III/IVA endometrial cancer following surgery.
The study randomly assigned 736 eligible patients to one of two possible treatment arms. A group of 346 received a combined treatment consisting of chemotherapy and radiation over 21 weeks, a second group of 361 women received chemotherapy alone over 17 weeks, according to the study.
A median follow-up of six months after the randomized phase 3 trial showed the recurrence-free survival for the two arms of the trial were very similar: 59 percent for the group that got chemotherapy and radiation and 58 percent for chemotherapy alone.
Patients who received both chemo and radiotherapy had fewer recurrences in the pelvis, however this did not translate into improved recurrence-free survival, because there were relapses outside of the radiation field.
Radiation can cause immediate as well as chronic side effects that impact the quality of life of treated patients. These include diarrhea, low blood counts, urinary symptoms and others.
"An important consideration is the fact that concomitant delivery of chemo and radiotherapy can result in decreased tolerance of the treatment and incomplete delivery of chemotherapy," said lead investigator Daniela Matei, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine gynecological oncologist. "More than 25 percent of patients assigned to the combined arm were not able to complete chemotherapy on this study."
Endometrial cancer, which begins in the uterus, is the most common gynecologic cancer with most cases occurring in women after age 55. About 62,000 new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year. Occurrence of and mortality from endometrial cancer is rising, which may be tied to the obesity epidemic, said Matei.
The study was published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Northwestern Medicine is the collaboration between Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, which includes research, teaching and patient care.
