Persons with stage IA1 disease have a high cure rate with either simple hysterectomy or, where fertility preservation is an issue, by cone biopsy with clear margins. For patients with other stage I and stage IIA disease, radical surgery or radiation are equally effective treatments. These patients should be carefully selected to receive one treatment or the other but not both, as their combined use substantially increases the cost and morbidity of treatment. Women with more advanced, nonmetastatic disease should be treated with radiation. Recurrent cervical cancer confined to the pelvis should be treated with the modality not previously received.
Radiation is recommended to palliate symptoms in patients with metastatic disease.
This statement is an independent report of the consensus panel and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the Federal Government.