Chemoradiotherapy
You are most likely to have chemoradiotherapy treatment if your cervical cancer is:
stage 1B2 or bigger, up to a stage 4A
you have had surgery, and cancer cells were found in the lymph nodes close to the cervix
Before having chemoradiotherapy, you might have weekly chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel over 6 weeks.
The most common chemotherapy is cisplatin. You might have it before the radiotherapy starts. You continue to have it during the radiotherapy treatment.
You might have chemotherapy once a week throughout a 5 week radiotherapy course.
You have cisplatin through a drip (an infusion). A nurse puts a small tube into one of your veins and connects it to the drip, or you might need a central line. This is a long plastic tube that gives the drug into a large vein, either in your chest or in your arm. The tube stays in while you’re having treatment, which might be for a few months.
Find out more about central lines
You have daily external radiotherapy for 5 days every week for around 5 weeks. You also have a boost of internal radiotherapy ( ) at the end of your course.
You usually have treatment in the chemotherapy day unit or you might need to stay in hospital for a day or more.
You have treatment in the hospital radiotherapy department.
Before you begin treatment, the radiotherapy team work out how much radiation you need. They divide it into several smaller treatments. They call each treatment a fraction. This is called radiotherapy planning.
At your planning appointment the radiographers might make pen marks or small tattoos on your skin in the treatment area.
If you have chemoradiotherapy, your treatment starts a few days after the planning session. Otherwise, treatment starts up to 3 weeks after the planning session.
You have radiotherapy from an external machine as a daily treatment, five days a week for several weeks. You lie under a large machine to have radiotherapy.
Read about planning and having external radiotherapy
After the chemoradiotherapy you usually have internal radiotherapy. This means giving radiotherapy from inside the body and is also called brachytherapy.
Find out about having internal radiotherapy
Chemoradiotherapy can cause side effects during the treatment and afterwards.
Last reviewed: 03 Nov 2023
Next review due: 03 Nov 2026
The stage of a cancer tells you about its size and whether it has spread. The type means the type of cell the cancer started from. The grade means how abnormal the cells look under the microscope.
Chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer can cause side effects. Most side effects gradually go away in the weeks or months after treatment.
Chemotherapy uses anti cancer drugs to destroy cancer cells. Find out when and how you might have chemotherapy for cervical cancer.
Radiotherapy uses high energy x-rays to kill cervical cancer cells. External radiotherapy alongside chemotherapy (chemoradiotherapy) is one of the main treatments for cervical cancer. This may be followed by internal radiotherapy (brachytherapy).
If you have been diagnosed with cervical cancer, you might have surgery, chemotherapy with radiotherapy (chemoradiotherapy), chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a targeted cancer drug and an immunotherapy drug. What treatment you'll have will depend on several things.
Cervical cancer is when abnormal cells in the lining of the cervix grow uncontrollably and eventually form a growth (tumour).
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