Treatment of Recurrent Vaginal Cancer

Patients with recurrent vaginal cancer have a very poor prognosis. Most recurrences occur in the first 2 years after treatment.

Some patients with centrally recurrent vaginal cancers are candidates for pelvic exenteration or radiation therapy. In a large series, only 5 of 50 patients with recurrence were salvaged using surgery or radiation therapy. All five of these salvaged patients originally presented with stage I or II disease and had tumor recurrence in the central pelvis.[1]

No established anticancer drugs have demonstrated clinical benefit, although patients are often treated with regimens used to treat cervical cancer. If patients are eligible, participation in clinical trials should be considered. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI website.