Efficacy of treatment patterns based on concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with stage IIB cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose To assess survival of treatment patterns based on concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in patients with stage IIB cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Materials and methods Patients with stage IIB CSCC receiving CCRT were investigated from June 2012 to June 2019 in Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital. Baseline characteristics and treatment patterns were described. Survival between treatment patterns were compared using Kaplan-Meier methods. Results A total of 232 patients were included: 39.7% of patients received CCRT alone, 6.5% of patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) + CCRT, 45.6% of patients received CCRT + adjuvant chemotherapy (AC), and 8.2% of patients received NACT + CCRT + AC. CCRT + AC showed similar overall survival (OS; hazard ratio [HR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.41–2.17; P = 0.894) and locoregional-free survival (LRFS; HR = 2.39, 95% CI: 0.45–12.63; P = 0.303) compared with CCRT. However, CCRT + AC had a worse distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS; HR = 5.39, 95% CI: 1.14–25.57; P = 0.034). After propensity score matching, CCRT + AC had comparable OS (HR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.29–2.70; P = 0.833), LRFS (HR = 3.26, 95% CI: 0.30-35.38; P = 0.331), and DMFS (HR = 4.80, 95% CI: 0.55–42.26; P = 0.157) compared to CCRT. Conclusion AC did not improve survival in patients with stage IIB CSCC receiving CCRT.