Cervical cancer: Advanced stage and relapse treatment-standard and experimental therapy

Cervical cancer is a common gynecologic cancer in women greater than age 65. The standard treatment for advanced disease in the general population is chemoradiation, and evidence suggests that elderly patients tolerate radiation therapy well. More prospective trials are needed in the elderly population to determine the superiority of chemoradiation over radiation alone or neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery. The standard treatment of metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer is chemotherapy. While studies suggest that age alone should not in fl uence the use of chemotherapy in the elderly population, physiologic changes, medical comorbidities, and performance status of each individual must be considered. Dose reductions or altered regimens may therefore be appropriate. Several new therapeutic drugs and strategies are currently under investigation for advanced disease as well as metastatic and recurrent disease, and prospective evidence speci fi c to this population will be needed to evaluate the ef fi cacy of these strategies for elderly women with cervical cancer.