Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy With the Angiogenesis Inhibitor Bevacizumab for Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: We hypothesized that adding bevacizumab to platinum-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy - whose efficacy for patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer has already been proven - could optimize the therapy regimen, leading to improved response rates and survival outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Forty patients with histologically confirmed cervical cancer with FIGO stage IB3-IVA who received platinum-based neoadjuvant treatment between March 2008 and January 2019 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of University Hospital Cologne were analyzed. Twenty patients were treated with additional bevacizumab. The comparative cohort consisted of 18 patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. The response rates and clinical outcomes, including progression-free survival and overall survival, were evaluated.

RESULTS

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab significantly improved the response rate (p=0.046). The survival analysis showed that patients treated without bevacizumab had better progression-free survival up to FIGO stage IVA than patients treated with bevacizumab. However, overall survival was similar for both cohorts. For patients with advanced tumor stage, including FIGO IVB, progression-free survival and overall survival improved with the addition of bevacizumab. Pathological complete remission was a statistically significant prognostic factor for progression-free survival (p=0.039) but did not significantly affect overall survival (p=0.098).

CONCLUSION

While bevacizumab did not demonstrate a significant improvement in overall survival rates, it was associated with a notable reduction in tumor size and showed a trend towards improved clinical response rates. These findings suggest that bevacizumab may have potential in optimizing the neoadjuvant treatment approach.