Therapy-free interval has prognostic value in patients with recurrent cervical cancer treated with chemotherapy following definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy

Purpose Patients with cervical cancer recurrence after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) who are not candidates for surgical resection or salvage radiotherapy have a dismal prognosis. The predictive factors for the effects of chemotherapy and prognostic factors in these patients were analyzed. Methods We collected data for patients with recurrent cervical cancer who were primarily treated with CCRT between 2000 and 2013. Among them, 57 patients treated with only systemic chemotherapy were analyzed for the overall survival (OS), the overall response rate (ORR), and prognostic factors. Results The median age was 47 years. Inside the irradiated field recurrence occurred in 24, outside in 20 and both in 13 patients. Time to recurrence after the CCRT (i.e., therapy-free interval; TFI) were