Surgery for Recurrent Cervical Carcinoma

Andreas J. Papadopoulos (Subspecialty Fellow)
Omer Devaja (Subspecialty Fellow)
Rahul Nath (Research Registrar)
George D. Wilbanks (Visiting Professor)
K. Shanti Raju (Consultant and Director of Department)

Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust, London, England

Summary

• Recurrent disease occurs in approximately 35% of cervical cancer cases.
• Evaluation of the patient includes assessing the extent of disease and performance status for surgery.
• Exploratory laparotomy determines the extent of disease and the appropriateness of planned surgery.
• The choice of exenterative procedure varies according to the site and extent of recurrence.
• Exenteration is associated with a significant number of complications, but has achieved 5 year survival rates of between 19-50% in selected patients.

Editor's Comment

The benefits and limitations of surgical approaches to recurrent cervical cancer are carefully appraised in this detailed review. Along with well-established procedures, experimental techniques are reported for pelvic sidewall recurrences which traditionally are associated with a particularly poor prognosis.

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