Chemotherapy in the management of advanced or recurrent cervical and endometrial carcinoma

UCCESS OFTEN BREEDS F A I L U R E .There is no S better illustration of this point than carcinomas of the uterine cervix and the endometrium.Even though these two neoplasms will account for an estimated 54,000 new cases of invasive cancer in 1980, only an estimated 10,600 deaths are expected.':The high cure rate results from the frequency of early diagnosis and resultant efficacy of surgery and/or radiotherapy.As a consequence of this high success rate, effective systemic therapy for patients with advanced or recurrent disease has been slow to evolve.Recent efforts, however.have begun to make some progress in the identification of active systemic agents.This review will examine the results of these recent trials and will note the future direction of research in the management of these two neoplasms. Cervix Carcinoma Gc~tic~vtrl C'otz..,.trtic)tiCervix Carcinoma appears to develop as a continuum from dysplastic changes in the epithelium through carcinoma in sitri to invasive cancer.A majority of cases are squamous cell carcinoma, while a minority are small cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma.The single most important prognostic factor is the extent of ~ ~~~~ ~~ .