Radiation therapy of cancer of the uterine cervix in Northern Ireland

From 1976 to 1980, 275 patients with invasive uterine cervical cancer were treated at the Northern Ireland Radiotherapy Centre. Most patients had combined intracavitary and external radiotherapy. Only 26% presented with clinical Stage 1 disease; there were more of these patients aged 30-39. Five-year survival was 68% for Stage 1, 48% for Stage 2, 16% for Stage 3 and 0 for Stage 4. Survival was better in the age group 30-39 (63%) than in the age group 20-29 (18%) and for those histologically graded as squamous (49%) rather than poorly differentiated (35%). Twelve patients required colostomy. Comparison of these results with other centres in the United Kingdom and the USA show that there is still room for improvement particularly in the identification of early stages of the disease.