Outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy for locally advanced cervical cancer at Kigali University Teaching Hospital, Rwanda: a retrospective descriptive study

Background Half of countries in Africa lack access to radiation (RT), which is essential for standard treatment of locally advanced cervical cancers. We evaluated outcomes for patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by radical hysterectomy in settings where no RT is available.Methods We performed a retrospective descriptive study of all patients with FIGO stage IB2-IIA2 and some exceptional stage IIB cases who received NACT and surgery at Kigali University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda. Patients were treated with NACT consisting of carboplatin and paclitaxel once every 3 weeks for 3-4 cycles before radical hysterectomy. We calculated recurrence rates and overall survival (OS) rate was determined by Kaplan-Meier estimates.Results Between May 2016 and October 2018, 57 patients underwent NACT and 43 (75.4%) were candidates for radical hysterectomy after clinical response assessment. Among the 43 patients who received NACT and surgery, the median age was 56 years, 14% were HIV positive, and FIGO stage distribution was: IB2 (32.6%), IIA1 (7.0%), IIA2 (51.2%) and IIB (9.3%). Thirty-nine (96%) patients received 3 cycles and 4 (4%) received 4 cycles of NACT. Thirty-eight (88.4%) patients underwent radical hysterectomy as planned and 5 (11.6%) had surgery aborted due to grossly metastatic disease. Two patients were lost to follow up after surgery and excluded from survival analysis. For the remaining 41 patients with median follow-up time of 34.4 months, 32 (78%) were alive with no evidence of recurrence, and 8 (20%) were alive with recurrence. One patient died of an unrelated cancer. The 3-year OS rate for the 41 patients who underwent NACT and surgery was 80.8% with a recurrence rate of 20%.Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with radical hysterectomy is a feasible treatment option for locally advanced cervical cancer in settings with limited access to RT. With an increase in gynecologic oncologists skilled at radical surgery, this approach may be a more widely available alternative treatment option in countries without radiation facilities.