Conventional Radiation Therapy in HIV-infected Women With Cervical Cancer.

Abstract

Purpose : To evaluate the outcome of conventional radiation therapy in cervical cancer patients with HIV seropositive in the term of primary tumor response, clinical course of disease , survival time and causes of death. Materials and

methods : Thirteen HIV-infected women with carcionoma of cervix who received complete course of conventional radiation therapy were enrolled in this retrospective study. They are composed of clinically staged IB to IVB patients and underwent external irradiation using Co-60 teletherapy or Linac 6 MV. machine 40 - 50 Gy to whole pelvis followed by Cs-137 brachytherapy to 25 - 35 Gy to point A. All patients were follow-up closely until dead.

Result : Six of 13 patients died with clinical manifestation of AIDS related opportunistic infection. The rest, 7 patients , are still alive at follow up 9 - 45 months. Mean survival time was about 3.67 months for the dead group compare to over 20 months in survival group. All patients who followed up until dead have no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis.

Conclusion : Minimal informations about relationship between each HIV serotypes in Thai people and natural course of cervical cancer including prevalence of HPV infection in this patient group is currently available. Future research in this important field is hoped to clearly understand to proper management and what we should do for HIV-infected cervical cancer. Nowadays , conventional therapy is still an effective treatment for good local control with acceptable side effect.