Cervical cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy chart

At present, the main treatments for cervical cancer are surgery or synchronous chemoradiotherapy. Surgery is suitable for patients with early cervical cancer. If the tumor has not invaded the parauterine tissue and has not metastasized to distant sites, surgical treatment and postoperative adjuvant therapy can cure most cervical cancers.

However, many cervical cancer patients have already had local and regional tumor spread when diagnosed, and have lost the opportunity for surgical treatment. Synchronous chemoradiotherapy has become the current standard diagnosis and treatment routine and is widely used in clinical practice.

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer refers to a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, with radiotherapy as the main method and chemotherapy as the auxiliary method. The biggest feature of cervical cancer radiotherapy technology is the organic combination of external irradiation and internal irradiation. External irradiation is performed using an advanced linear accelerator, and internal irradiation is to place a micro-radioactive source into the patient's body through an applicator to directly irradiate the tumor in the cervical area, directly irradiating the tumor with a large dose. For the purpose of protecting the ovarian function of young patients, surgical treatment is still preferred in the treatment of early cervical cancer, but for patients with obvious paracervical infiltration in stage IIb or above, radiotherapy is almost the only option.

Kill cancer cells while protecting normal tissue

The combination of "effective attack" and "protection of civilians" is the key to treating cervical cancer. From the anatomical structure of the cervix, we can see that there is a bladder in front and a rectum in the back, with only a few millimeters of membrane in the middle. Therefore, when treating cervical cancer, precision is required. On the one hand, it is "effective attack" to kill all cancer cells, and on the other hand, it is "protection of civilians" to prevent innocent normal tissues from being damaged.

First, the process and operation specifications of cervical cancer radiotherapy are continuously optimized. Every step in the process is subject to strict quality control, and equipment testing and debugging are carried out every day.

Secondly, applying advanced intensity-modulated technology to external beam radiotherapy for cervical cancer can greatly protect the patient's normal tissues and reduce the occurrence of complications such as the rectum, bladder, and small intestine.

Furthermore, the application of image-guided three-dimensional intracavitary radiotherapy and personalized afterloading technology can enable doctors to have "eagle eyes and golden eyes". Every leaf on a tree is different. The height, intracavitary structure, and tumor location all determine that the situation of each patient cannot be exactly the same. In addition to the use of high-end three-dimensional imaging systems for precise positioning, the doctor's experience and technical level have also become the key to the treatment of cervical cancer. Radiotherapy doctors should constantly explore the optimal irradiation model and adopt different treatment plans for different patients and different treatment stages.