Cervical Cancer continues to be the most prevalent cancer among women and accounted for 26.7 per cent of all cancers in females, according to the Population Based Cancer Registry at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) which is Karnataka government’s dedicated oncology care centre.

The condition continues to be a challenge to treat with poor awareness and absence of targeted drug therapies for oncologists. The key reason for cervical cancer posing to be a huge challenge to treat are lack of awareness and absence of targeted drug therapies. These facts were the stark revelations during the Cervical Cancer Week observed between January 18 and Jan 24, 2010.

In the hospital based cancer registries (HBCRs), cancer of the cervix is the leading site of cancer in Bangalore and Chennai, the second leading site in Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and the third leading site in Dibrugarh.

KMIO has a registry maintained in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It provides details on the magnitude of cancer patients coming to KMIO. The oncologists record the various types of cancers, the treatment particulars and its outcome, which enables the Institute to plan for the management and control of the cervical cancer. The information collected enables initiation of epidemiological studies to find out various causative factors for the cancer. Over 16,000 new cervical cases are registered every year with more than 20 per cent from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Kerala, said Dr M Vijaya Kumar, director, additional in-charge, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.

Going by the morbidity of the cancer of the cervix, KMIO is conducting randomized phase-3 study comparing gemcitabine plus carboplatin versus carboplatin mono-therapy in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma who failed first-line platinum - based therapy, he added.

Despite thousands of cancer patients undergoing treatment from cancer hospitals in the country, no scientific evaluation of therapeutic efficacy in terms of pattern of care and survival has been done. The data from HBCRs of India has shown that cancer of cervix is reported with an incidence of 28 per cent as against breast cancer which is 16 per cent.

The major task on hand is to obtain core identifying and diagnostic information at all hospitals. We also need to record details of clinical stage and types of treatment of patients to keep track on the periodic follow-ups, stated Dr PP Bapsy, senior consultant oncologist, Apollo Hospital.

According to Dr Niti Raizada Narang, consultant, Medical Oncology, HCG which is the largest network of 20 cancer hospitals in the country in the private sector, treatment for cervical cancer involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and in some stages surgery. Drugs are used in most stage II and stage IV of the disease where platinum based therapies are used. Even the CyberKnife technology can only be used for recurrent cases with localized disease manifestation.

“The need of the hour is to promote screening programme in a big way including vaccination. We need to highlight that early diagnosis and availability of good medical centres to control the condition,” she added.

Unlike the West, in India most cervix cancer is virus associated and is found more in rural areas. Therefore many basic and clinical research programmes are being conducted for cervix cancer including newer drug development and HCG as an institute is a part of most of these, said Dr Narang.