Objective: A prospective cohort study in a teaching hospital to assess the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced carcinoma cervix.
Method: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the form of cisplatin 75 mg/m(2) and paclitaxel 135 mg/m(2) on day 1 and repeated at 14 days' interval for up to a maximum of three courses.
Results: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in cervical cancer was effective in the downstaging of the disease. Downstaging was observed in 19.23 % of patients after two cycles and in 50 % of patients after three cycle of NACT. Operability increases to 33.3 and 38.4 % after two and three cycles of NACT, respectively. Complete pathological response was observed in 37.5 % of patients after NACT. No significant adverse effect in the feasibility of surgery was observed.
Conclusion: The present study showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy was an effective and well-tolerated mode of therapy with significantly less morbidity and mortality.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Downstaging; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy.