intensity-modulated radiotherapy in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced cervical cancer and its impact on the quality of life and immune function

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the efficacy of paclitaxel combined with carboplatin chemotherapy and intensity-modulated radio－therapy（IMRT） in the treatment of elderly patients with advanced cervical cancer and its influence on the quality of life and immune function. Methods：A total of 98 elderly patients with advanced cervical cancer admitted to the department of oncology between January 2012 to January 2014 were selected and randomly divided into the observation group（49 cases） and the control group（49 cases）. The observation group received paclitaxel combined with carboplatin chemotherapy and IMRT，while the control group only received IMRT. Continuous chemotherapy for 3 weeks was taken as one course，and the patients in the two groups underwent continuous 3 to 4 coursed of treatment. The therapeutic efficacy，quality of life score and immune function changes before and after treatment were com－pared between the two groups，followed up for 1 year，2 years and 3 years，and the local recurrence and distant metastasis were recorded. Results：The total effective rate of the observation group（75.51%） was higher than that of the control group（46.94%） （χ2=8.425，P=0.000）. After the treatment，the scores of cognitive function，social function，emotional function，consciousness function and physical function were increased（observation group：t=35.110，23.405，18.263，20.795，17.879；control group：t=23.838，13.479，7.298，13.627，8.138，all P<0.05）；the scores were higher in the obser－vation group than in the control group（t=9.921，9.038，11.774，8.965，9.757，all P<0.05）. CD3+，CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ were decreased in two groups after the treatment（observation group：t=7.542，7.747，10.243；the control group：t=16.560，12.871，14.326，all P<0.05）. After the treatment，CD3+，CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ were higher in the observation groupthan in the control group（t=11.082，7.293，7.653，all P<0.05）. The 2 year survival rate and 3 year survival rate of the observation group were higher than those of the control group，and the local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate of the observation group were lower than those of the control group（χ2=4.602，5.289，6.078，all P<0.05）. Conclusion：Paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy combined with IMRT have signifi－cant short-term and long-term efficacy for elderly patients with advanced cervical cancer，and can improve the quality of life of pa－tients，with little side effect in the immune function，therefore it has important research value.