[The value of primary irradiation of invasive adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix].

Of 1484 patients with invasive carcinoma of the cervix who underwent primary radiotherapy, 65 (4.4%) were found to have adenocarcinoma. These adenocarcinoma patients were matched with squamous cell carcinoma patients on the basis of age, stage and 5-year survival rates. In 703 patients with squamous cell carcinoma, there was no difference in age and stage compared to those patients, who had an adenocarcinoma of the cervix. The cumulative 5-year survival rates for 65 patients in the adenocarcinoma group (30.7%) were not significantly different, but were remarkably lower with the squamous cell control subjects (42.7%). Only the 5-year survival results for patients with FIGO stage 2 disease were significantly less than those of our control group. For patients with stage 3 disease there were nearly the same results (30%) in both groups. Our results underline the importance of radiotherapy for the treatment of inoperable patients with invasive adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix.