Discussion on the rationality of FIGO 2018 stage IIIC for cervical cancer with oncological outcomes: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: This study explored the rationality of the 2018 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIIC for cervical cancer to determine outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of cervical cancer patients who had received radical surgery or Radiotherapy. Multivariate analysis was used to compare 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) for FIGO 2018 stages IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC cervical cancer patients. Based on tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging, IIIC cases were divided into 5 subgroups: T1a, T1b, T2a, T2b, and T3. The 5-year OS and DFS of the different IIIC subgroups were further compared using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: (I) The 5-year OS for FIGO 2018 IIIA (n=251), IIIB (n=1,824), and IIIC (n=3,137) were 73.7%, 69.0%, and 74.3%, respectively (P