Indications and contraindications for radiotherapy of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is relatively sensitive to radiotherapy, which includes external irradiation and intracavitary irradiation. Except for stage I and IIa cervical cancer, which are mainly treated with surgery, radiotherapy is the main treatment for other stages.

Indications for radiotherapy of cervical cancer: In the early stage of cervical cancer, the principle of radiotherapy is mainly intracavitary radiotherapy, supplemented by external radiotherapy; in the middle stage, it is half internal and half external; in the late stage, the principle is just the opposite of the early stage. The purpose of intracavitary radiotherapy is to control local lesions, while external radiotherapy is mainly used to treat lesions in the pelvic lymph nodes and paracervical tissues.

Contraindications of radiotherapy for cervical cancer: Radiotherapy for cervical cancer has certain limitations. For some early-stage and young cancer patients, such as premenopausal women, radiotherapy will damage the ovarian function, and these patients will develop complications such as bone marrow suppression, cachexia, uremia, acute or subacute pelvic inflammatory disease, etc. after receiving radiotherapy.

Some retrospective studies have shown that when patients are irradiated with 45 to 50 Gy in the conventional form, they often develop grade 3 to 4 complications, with an incidence rate of 4% to 15%. Another 40% of patients develop long-term chronic diarrhea after radiotherapy. Another 2% to 8% of cervical cancer patients develop serious bladder complications, such as hematuria, frequent urination, and urgency, about one year after radiotherapy.