Treatment

There are three major types of treatment which are;

1. Surgery
2. Radiation
3. Chemotherapy

SURGERY:

Micro invasive cancer (stage IA) is usually treated by hysterectomy (removal of the whole uterus including part of the vagina). For stage IA2, the lymph nodes are removed as well. An alternative for patients who desire to remain fertile is a local surgical procedure such as a loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP) or cone biopsy.

It is generally recommended to wait at least one year before attempting to become pregnant after surgery.

RADIATION:

Radiation therapy is given as external beam radiotherapy to the pelvis and brachytherapy (internal radiation). Patients treated with surgery who have high risk features found on pathologic examination are given radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy in order to reduce the risk of relapse. Larger early stage tumors and advanced stage of tumors may be treated with radiation therapy.

CHEMOTHERAPY:

The use of a combination of two chemotherapy drugs, hycamtin and cisplatin is used to treat women with late-stage (IVB) cervical cancer treatment, though combination treatment has significant risk of neutropenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia side effects.