Can Radiosensitivity and Histopathology of Cervical Cancer Be Correlated?

The histopathology of cervical cancers can be correlated with the local radiocurability for (1) groups of cases and (2) the individual patient. The histological type of carcinoma influences the local radiocurability, since the five-year symptom-free survival rates are significantly better for cases with mature than for those with anaplastic carcinomas of the same clinical stage of the disease (Table 1). In addition to the series of 898 patients quoted in the introduction 3 a series of 1,633 cases 11 classified at the time of starting treatment between 1946 and 1953 gives very similar results. These figures show that (1) for the same clinical stage, differentiating (ie, mature) tumors are more amenable to radiotherapy than anaplastic cancers; (2) the incidence of mature types decreases and that of anaplastic forms increases with increasing clinical stage, ie, the latter account for 67% in stage I, 77% in stage II, and 85% in stages