Cervical carcinoma in pregnancy.

Abstract

Forty-one cases of invasive carcinoma of the cervix associated with pregnancy that were treated at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center from January 1961 through April 1979 were reviewed. Postpartum patients were included in the study if the diagnosis of cancer was made within 6 months of delivery. Three cases of clinical stage IA disease treated by Wertheim-Taussig hysterectomy had a 5-year survival rate of 100%. There were 22 cases of stage IB disease with a 5-year actuarial survival rate of 90%. Four patients with stage IB were treated by radiotherapy, 17 by Wertheim-Taussig hysterectomy, and 1 by a combination of pelvic irradiation, cesium application, and simple extrafascial total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for a barrel-shaped cervix. Twelve cases of stage II disease treated by radiotherapy had a 5-year actuarial survival rate of 24%. There were no survivors in 2 cases of stages III and IV disease. The 5-year actuarial survival rate of patients with stage I carcinoma of the cervix associated with pregnancy is not statistically different from that of nonpregnant patients, regardless of the method of treatment.