title: Survival and recurrence patterns in the radiation treatment of carcinoma of the vagina.
abstract: Fifty-three patients with invasive cancer of the vagina were treated with a curative course of radiation at Tufts New England Medical Center between September 1958 and December 1979. There were 37 patients with "primary" carcinoma of the vagina and 16 with metastatic disease to this site. The treatment comprised an integration of teletherapy and intracavitary/interstitial therapy. The 5-year relapse-free survival for primary vaginal carcinoma was 88% for Stage I, 44% for Stage II, 35% for Stage III, and 0% for Stage IV. Patients with metastatic disease had an overall 5-year survival of 63%. There was local recurrence in 35% of the patients with primary and 19% with metastatic vaginal carcinomas. The incidence of local recurrence appeared to be increased with higher grade pathology, lesions other than vault carcinomas, and lesions involving the entire length of the vagina. Due to immediacy of adjacent structures in the high dose volume, complications excluding those patients with persistent recurrent disease were somewhat high (11%).
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*