Use of Palliative Cisplatinum for Advanced Cervical Cancer in a Resource-Poor Setting: A Case Series From Kenya.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of cisplatinum for palliative treatment of advanced cervical cancer in a resource-poor setting.
Methods: An observational case series is reported from a university teaching hospital in Kenya. All women presenting with advanced cervical cancer and planned for palliative cisplatinum therapy from 2010 to 2014 were included. Women were treated with cisplatinum 50 mg/m ² every 4 weeks in an outpatient setting. Data on tumor stage and symptoms control were prospectively collected in an electronic database. The main outcome measure was control of symptoms such as bleeding, discharge, and pain.
Results: Of the women who originally presented with bleeding, 62% reported improvement in this symptom, 31.3% reported the bleeding completely stopped, 58% had improvement of their vaginal discharge, and 20.5% reported complete resolution. Of the women who presented with pain, 54% reported improvement; 30.9% reported pain had completely resolved. After each treatment cycle, approximately 30% of patients did not return for their next treatment.
Conclusion: Cisplatinum as palliative treatment of advanced cervical cancer is feasible in a resource-poor setting and leads to effective symptom control. However, unknown barriers may inhibit women from returning for regular treatment.
Competing Interests: The following represents disclosure information provided by authors of this manuscript. All relationships are considered compensated. Relationships are self-held unless noted. I = Immediate Family Member, Inst = My Institution. Relationships may not relate to the subject matter of this manuscript. For more information about ASCO's conflict of interest policy, please refer to www.asco.org/rwc or ascopubs.org/jco/site/ifc. Elkanah Orang'oNo relationship to disclosePeter ItsuraNo relationship to disclosePhilip TonuiNo relationship to discloseHellen MuliroNo relationship to discloseBarry RosenTravel, Accommodations, Expenses: Intuitive Surgical, da Vinci SurgeryLuc van LonkhuijzenNo relationship to disclose