Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 'Quick cycle' neoadjuvant chemotherapeutic regime in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of cervix and monitor the response to chemotherapy using Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen (SCC-Ag) as tumor marker.
Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with SCC of cervix (Stage I-IV) entered the study to receive three courses of multiagent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (vincristine, cisplatin and bleomycin) in a weekly regime. SCC-Ag was evaluated in these patients' pre and post-chemotherapy.
Results: Patients with stage IB2 had a complete response and two of seven patients with stage IIB became operable. The overall response rate was 47.8% and complete response rate was 8.7%. Decrease in tumor volume post-chemotherapy was significant (P<0.002). Toxicity including myelosuppression was minimal. A statistically significant decrease in SCC-Ag (stage II and III) was seen post-chemotherapy (P <0.04 and 0.005, respectively).
Conclusion: The weekly chemotherapeutic regime was found to be safe and effective and SCC-Ag is a useful tumor marker for monitoring response to chemotherapy.