A new study has found a new treatment regime for cervical cancer that can reduce the risk of death by 40%. The study was led by researchers from the University College London and the findings have been published in the journal The Lancet. Doctors say that this is the biggest advance in cervical cancer in 25 years.

For the study, the researchers recruited patients UK, Mexico, India, Italy and Brazil for over 10 years. According to a report in The Guardian, the new treatment plan involves a short course of chemotherapy before patients undergo chemoradiation, the standard treatment for cervical cancer involving a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The researchers found that the results of the phase-three clinical trial showed a 40% reduction in the risk of death from the disease and a 35% reduction in the risk of cancer coming back within at least five years.

Speaking to The Guardian, Dr Mary McCormack, the lead investigator of the trial at UCL said that the discovery was the most significant breakthrough in treating cervical cancer since the end of the last century. She added, “This is the biggest gain in survival since the adoption of chemoradiation in 1999.

“Every improvement in survival for a cancer patient is important, especially when the treatment is well-tolerated and given for a relatively short time, allowing women to get back to their normal lives relatively quickly.”

The researchers at UCL and University College London Hospital (UCLH) completed a long-term follow-up of patients who were given a short course of chemotherapy before chemoradiation.

The study which is known as the Interlace trial was funded by the Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre. They analysed whether a short course of induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation could cut relapses and deaths among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that had not spread to other organs.

For the study, the researchers recruited 500 women who were randomly allocated to receive either the new treatment regime or the standard chemoradiation treatment. One of the groups received the new regime of six weeks of carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy. This was followed by standard radiotherapy plus weekly cisplatin and brachytherapy chemotherapy, known as chemoradiation. The other group received only the usual chemoradiation.

The study found that after five years, 80% of those who received a short course of chemotherapy first were alive and for 72% their cancer had not returned nor spread. In the standard treatment group, 72% were alive and 64% had not had their cancer return or spread.

Also, UCL said the trial found a 40% reduction in the risk of death and a 35% reduction in the risk of cancer returning when comparing the two groups using a different metric.

McCormack said, “A short course of induction chemotherapy prior to standard chemoradiation treatment greatly boosts overall survival and reduces the risk of relapse in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

“This approach is a straightforward way to make a positive difference, using existing drugs that are cheap and already approved for use in patients. It has already been adopted by some cancer centres and there’s no reason that this shouldn’t be offered to all patients undergoing chemoradiation for this cancer.”

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