New ASCO Guidelines

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has published its first resource-stratified guidelines on the clinical practice of invasive cervical cancer. The report, published in the Journal of Global Oncology (May, 2016), classifies the new recommendations into four tiers: basic, limited, enhanced, and maximal.  

Some of the key recommendations are:

• In basic settings where patients cannot be treated with radiation therapy, extrafascial hysterectomy either alone or after chemotherapy may be an option for women with stage IA1 to IVA cervical cancer.
• Concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy is standard in enhanced and maximal settings for women with stage IB to IVA disease.The panel stresses the addition of low-dose chemotherapy during radiotherapy, but not at the cost of delaying radiation therapy if chemotherapy is not available in limited settings.
• For patients with stage IV or recurrent cervical cancer, single-agent chemotherapy (carboplatin or cisplatin) is recommended in basic settings.
• Where resources are constrained, single- or short-course radiotherapy schemes can be used with retreatments if feasible for persistent or recurrent symptoms.

You can see the full guidelines here:

http://jgo.ascopubs.org/content/early/2016/05/21/JGO.2016.003954.full