[Supraclavicular lymph node metastasis from carcinoma of the uterine cervix after radiotherapy--analysis of 219 patients].

From Mar. 1958 to Dec. 1985, 13547 patients with cervical cancer in stages I-III were treated by radiotherapy in our hospital. Supraclavicular lymph node metastasis developed in 219 (1.62%), 83.1% on the left, 7.7% on the right and 9.13% bilateral. 61.2% of the metastasis occurred within 2 years and 86.75% within 5 years after radiotherapy. The majority of these patients (88.3%, 191/215), except 4 who are still being followed, had died within 1.5 years of metastasis with a mean survival of 9.3 months. If radiotherapy in adequate dose is given to the supraclavicular metastatic area, the mean survival can be prolonged for 3.7 months. The prognosis is very poor for these patients no matter what the clinical stage is or when the metastasis develops. The more advanced clinical stage, the higher metastasis rate (P less than 0.001). In this series, 47/219 (21.5%) were found to have concurrent metastasis to the other organs.