Treatment for Recurrent Cervical Cancer
The treatment your doctors suggest for a recurrence of your cervical cancer will depend on a number of factors, including the type of treatment you received in the past, and the symptoms you are experiencing with the new cancer.
If the disease is in multiple sites, then your doctors will probably recommend that you have chemotherapy. If you haven't had radiation therapy previously, radiation plus chemotherapy is often the most effective treatment. If you have had radiation previously, then your doctors may recommend surgery.
Women whose cancer has recurred in the pelvis may need a surgery called pelvic exenteration. In this procedure, the uterus, cervix and vagina are removed, as well as other organs to which the cancer has spread, such as the lower colon, rectum or bladder.
Sometimes radiation therapy is given during surgery (intra-operatively) to treat a small, localized area that cannot be removed surgically.
You may want to read the "PDQ" summary on the National Cancer Institute web site for more detailed information about cervical cancer.
If the disease is in multiple sites, then your doctors will probably recommend that you have chemotherapy. If you haven't had radiation therapy previously, radiation plus chemotherapy is often the most effective treatment. If you have had radiation previously, then your doctors may recommend surgery.
Women whose cancer has recurred in the pelvis may need a surgery called pelvic exenteration. In this procedure, the uterus, cervix and vagina are removed, as well as other organs to which the cancer has spread, such as the lower colon, rectum or bladder.
Sometimes radiation therapy is given during surgery (intra-operatively) to treat a small, localized area that cannot be removed surgically.
You may want to read the "PDQ" summary on the National Cancer Institute web site for more detailed information about cervical cancer.