Introduction/Background The effect of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for stage IB2 to IVA disease has been proven. However, it has been still unknown whether the additional hyperthermia can render patients survival advantages since the early 1990s. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of hyperthermia (HT) combined with radiotherapy (RT) and/or chemotherapy (CT) in patients with cervical cancer (CC) stage IIB and IIIB.

Methodology 120 patients with IIB and IIIB CC from the first affiliated hospital of xi ´an jiaotong university were randomized to RT, RCT (radiochemotherapy), RHT(radiotherapy plus hyperthermia), and RCHT (radiochemotherapy plus hyperthermia) groups. There were 7 patients of stage IIB and 23 patients of stage IIIB in each group. All patients were treated with relevant treatments. HT was delivered to the patients in RHT group and RCHT group, and the intracavitary temperature range was 41.5∼42.5°C. Overall survival time, survival rate, toxicity as well as prognostic factors were evaluated.

Results The 15-year survival time of RT alone was obviously lower than that of the other groups, 124 months in RT, 136 months in RCT, 147 months in RHT, and 138 months in RCHT, respectively. The 15-year survival analysis showed that combined treatment was associated with better overall survival, although there was not statistically significant (P=0.723). Besides, the combined treatment did not increase the cute or late toxicity. Prognostic analysis showed that the higher pre-treatment hemoglobin (BTHG) and more late toxicity of rectum (LTR) were significantly correlated with better survival (P=0.006, P=0.026).

Conclusion The therapy of HT combined with RT and CT or RCT for locally advanced CC yielded a longer survival tendency as compared to RT alone, but did not increase acute or late toxicity. we suggest hyperthermia can be an optional or additional treatment for CC that can not respond or tolerate chemotherapy.

Disclosure The authors declare no conflicts of interest.