Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women and is mainly linked to infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV). Although most HPV infections resolve spontaneously, 570,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018, and more than half of them died from the disease. For locally advanced disease, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (RT-CT) followed by brachytherapy is considered the standard therapeutic treatment. Even though progress has been made in chemotherapy, external beam radiotherapy, and brachytherapy over the past decades-on the one hand by reducing the duration of chemotherapy-induced cytotoxicity, and on the other hand by decreasing radiation doses delivered to organs at risk-hematologic toxicity following concurrent chemoradiotherapy remains a frequent complication. The indication and benefit of chemotherapy have been demonstrated in phase III clinical trials; however, grade 3 hematologic toxicity (anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia) remains between 18.7% and 21.3%. Since total treatment duration is a prognostic factor for local control, brachytherapy must be administered near the end of or immediately after RT-CT so that total treatment time is as short as possible (≤ 50 days). If grade 3 hematologic toxicity persists after RT-CT (prior to brachytherapy), brachytherapy will be delayed, leading to a loss of disease control (Tanderup et al., 2016). Dose reduction to the bone marrow is possible, but to date no randomized trial has evaluated it. The objective of this multicenter French study is to assess whether bone-sparing-contouring of the pelvic and/or lumbosacral osseous structures as an organ at risk (OAR) during external radiotherapy planning-reduces the incidence of grade ≥ 3 hematologic toxicity and the use of leukocyte growth factors, platelet transfusions, and/or blood transfusions, while adhering to current recommendations and without compromising clinical outcomes in patients treated with RT-CT and brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
72
radiotherapy delivered while contouring the bone marrow to reduce hematologic toxicity
Number of Participants With Grade ≥3 Hematologic Toxicity (CTCAE v5.0)
Incidence of grade ≥3 hematologic toxicity (anemia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia) assessed using CTCAE v5.0.
Time frame: At completion of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (Day 1 of brachytherapy planning visit).
Number of Participants With Grade ≥3 Hematologic Toxicity at Follow-up
Incidence of grade ≥3 hematologic toxicity assessed using CTCAE v5.0.
Time frame: At 3 months and at 6 months after completion of concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
Mean Bone Marrow Dose (Gy)
Mean dose to pelvic bone marrow structures extracted from treatment planning DVH.
Time frame: At radiotherapy treatment planning
Number of Participants Requiring Supportive Treatments
Number of participants requiring at least one of the following: G-CSF, platelet transfusion, or red blood cell transfusionons.
Time frame: From Day 1 of chemoradiotherapy initiation up to 90 days after chemoradiotherapy completion.
Overall treatment duration
Number of days between start of radiotherapy and end of brachytherapy.
Time frame: From date of first radiotherapy fraction until end of brachytherapy
Progression-free survival (PFS)
PFS is defined as the time from randomization to documented disease progression or death from any cause.
Time frame: From randomization up to 3 years of follow-up.
Local control
To evaluate local disease control, defined as absence of local recurrence (complete response or stable disease without progression).
Time frame: From end of treatment through all follow-up visits (up to 3 years).
Incidence of bone fractures
To estimate the incidence of bone fractures during follow-up.
Time frame: During the entire follow-up period (up to 3 years).
EORTC QLQ-C30 Global Health Score
Change in QLQ-C30 global health status score (0-100 scale, higher = better).
Time frame: Baseline (Day 1), end of chemoradiotherapy (Week 5), and follow-up at 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 36 months.
Bone marrow metabolic activity
Bone marrow SUVmax measured on PET-CT.
Time frame: Baseline (before chemoradiotherapy) and post-chemoradiotherapy (Day of brachytherapy planning CT).
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