[Medical treatment of metastatic or recurrent cancer of the cervix]

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the most frequent gynaecological cancer worldwide. Incidence is decreasing in industrialized countries but remains high in poorest countries. In metastatic or recurrent disease, the treatment is more often palliative. Chemotherapy yields some efficiency in non-irradiated fields but the benefit should be balanced with the treatment toxicities. In this setting, cisplatin is considered as the drug of reference, but responses rates are poor. So far, combined chemotherapy has not been shown better than cisplatin alone. Recently, results for cisplatin associated with topotecan appear to be promising while used for treatment in metastatic or recurrent disease. However, the bad prognosis of this illness leads to keep on looking for better treatments. Targeted therapeutics and immunotherapy against human papilloma virus could bear significant progress for treatment of cervical cancer.