Cisplatin/5-Fluorouracil Treatment of Recurrent Cervical Carcinoma: A Phase II Study with Long-Term Follow-up

Objective: To evaluate the response rate and corrected survival in patients with recurrent cervical carcinoma (RCC) treated with 100 mg/m²cisplatin (CDDP) iv on Day 1 and 1000 mg/m²5-fluorouracil (5-FU) iv on Days 1 to 5. Methods: A phase II study of CDDP/5-FU in RCC was initiated in 1986. Up to December 1991, a total of 72 patients were enrolled. Of these, 65 were evaluable for response. Results: The overall response rate was 49%. For 9 patients with complete remission, the median duration of response was 16 months, range 6 to 79+. The corresponding figures for 26 patients with partial remission were 10 months, range 3 to 80 months. By multivariate analysis, FIGO stage, disease-free interval, WHO performance status, and number of lesions at recurrence were independent prognostic variables. Twenty-two percent of the patients survived for more than 2 years and 9% for more than 5 years. Toxicity was tolerable. Leucopenia, ototoxicity, and neurotoxicity were the main problems. Conclusion: A high response rate (49%) was observed with CDDP/5-FU treatment in patients with RCC with 9% of the patients surviving for more than 5 years.