Treatment Options for Stage IVb Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) and Adenocarcinoma of the Vagina

Treatment options for stage IVb SCC and adenocarcinoma of the vagina include:

For patients with stage IVb disease, current therapy is inadequate. No established anticancer drugs have demonstrated clinical benefit, although patients are often treated with regimens used to treat cervical cancer.

Concurrent chemotherapy using fluorouracil or cisplatin-based therapy and radiation therapy is sometimes advocated on the basis of results extrapolated from cervical cancer management strategies.[1-3] Evidence is limited to small case series, and the incremental impact on patient survival and local disease control is not well defined.[Level of evidence C3] For more information, see Cervical Cancer Treatment.

Because stage IVb vaginal cancer is rare, these patients are candidates for clinical trials to improve survival or local control. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI website.