A trial looking at radiotherapy and chemotherapy for womb cancer (EORTC 55991)

The trial team found that chemotherapy and radiotherapy did help stop womb cancer coming back after surgery more than radiotherapy alone.

This trial recruited 378 women with stage 1, 2 or 3 womb cancer, although most people taking part had stage 1 cancer. Of the 378 women taking part,

• 191 had radiotherapy alone
• 187 had radiotherapy and chemotherapy

Most of the people in the radiotherapy and chemotherapy group (138 out of 187) had the chemotherapy drug cisplatin with either doxorubicin or epirubicin. Some had other combinations such as paclitaxel and carboplatin, for example.

The research team looked at the results 2 years after the trial finished recruiting patients. They found that for every 100 people who had radiotherapy,

• 26 had signs that their cancer had started to grow again
• 21 had died
• 18 of those 21 had died because of their cancer

They found that for every 100 people who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy,

• 19 had signs that their cancer had started to grow again
• 15 had died
• 10 of those 15 had died because of their cancer

So, fewer people died or had their cancer come back in the group that had both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The difference in the number of people who died overall was not significant in statistical terms. But the difference in the number of people who died as a result of having cancer was.

The research team concluded that giving chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy helped to stop womb cancer coming back after surgery.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.