Overall Treatment Time Assessment of Locally Advanced Cervix Cancer

BACKGROUND: Overall treatment time is an important factor in the outcome of cervix cancer treatment. However, in daily clinical practice, unplanned treatment interruptions are inevitable for many reasons. We performed a prospective study to assess the overall treatment time for patients treated in our department and identify the causes of treatment prolongation. Material and methods: Between first January and 30 April 2016, a group of patients with locally advanced cervix cancer were interviewed at the end of treatment. Data was collected using a questionnaire containing important study parameters. Results: 100 patients were interviewed. The mean age of women was 55,08 ± 12,43 years. Seventy-five patients (75%) were illiterate. Ninety-six patients (96%) has a low socio-economic level.  Ninety patients (90%) has squamous cell carcinoma. The stage IIIB represented the majority of cases (90%). All patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiation except one patient. Pelvic radiation at the dose of 46 Gy was performed for all patients. The median time to complete pelvis RT was 37 days (34-42 days). Only seventy-seven patients (77%) were treated by BT. A median time of the first brachytherapy insertion was 13,50 days (0-20 days). The median of OTT was 71 days (64-78 days). This prolongation was mainly due to the delay of the first brachytherapy insertion. In the univariate and multivariate analysis, two factors were associated with longer overall treatment time: age (p=0,006) and stage (p=0,001). Conclusion: In our country, cervical cancer outcomes are still poor.  To improve the prognosis, overall treatment time should be given in timely manner (8weeks).