Strategy and early results of treatment of advanced cervical cancer patients with synchronous cancers observed in PET-CT imaging.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to present strategy and early results of treatment of advanced cervical cancer patients with synchronous cancers observed in PET-CT imaging, treated at the Greater Poland Cancer Center.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included a group of 200 patients with diagnosed stage IIB-IIIB cervical cancer who received PET-CT for the purpose of radiotherapy treatment planning.

RESULTS: Among our study group, four patients (2%) were found to have a synchronous cancer. Two of the cases were diagnosed as breast cancer. However, cancers diagnosed in the other two patients were head and neck malignancies - hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancer. The choice of an optimal therapeutic approach requires taking into account characteristics of particular malignancies, their stage and histopathology. The whole therapy included radiotherapy of cervical cancer with various combinations of systemic treatment, radiotherapy or surgery of synchronous cancer. According to treatment results, patients diagnosed with breast cancer and hypopharyngeal cancer achieved complete remission of both primary and secondary tumour. Patient diagnosed with laryngeal malignancy, despite achieving complete remission of cervical cancer, finished radiotherapy of the synchronous cancer at a palliative dose.

CONCLUSIONS: The growing availability of PET-CT and other imaging methods in cancer diagnosis will increase the number of diagnosed synchronous cancers. Second primary cancers are often detected at an early stage, where radical treatment can be performed for both primary and secondary tumour. However, treatment of such complicated clinical cases as synchronous cancers should be carried out by multidisciplinary teams.