St. Louis, February 22, 1999 -- In a landmark study involving researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, women with locally advanced cervical cancer were shown to benefit from taking chemotherapeutic drugs while receiving radiation therapy. The study was led by scientists at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
"Overall, the patients who received chemotherapy were more likely to survive their disease," says Perry W. Grigsby, M.D., professor of radiology at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. David G. Mutch, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, also participated in the study along with other physicians in the division.
The national study by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) is one of three studies that will be reported in the April 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Other investigators were in the RTOG study were at New York University, the State University of New York Health Science Center and other institutions. It was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
The articles are being released in advance of publication because of their potential implications for public health. The National Cancer Institute also is issuing a rare clinical announcement on the studies' findings and those of two other unpublished studies. In the announcement, NCI director Richard Klausner says, "The findings of these five trails are remarkably consistent. They are likely to change the standard of care for invasive cervical cancer."
The RTOG study examined whether the addition of two chemotherapy drugs to a seven-week regimen of radiation treatment affected the survival of women who had locally advanced cervical cancer.
All of the 386 women evaluated in the study received radiation to the
pelvis and abdomen that reached th
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Contact: Barbra Rodriguez
rodrigub@medicine.wustl.edu
314-286-0122
Washington University School of Medicine
22-Feb-1999