A randomised study for sentinel nodes in cervical cancer

Published: 12 Jul 2018

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Prof Fabrice Lécuru - L'Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

Prof Lécuru speaks with ecancer at BCGS 2018 about a trial of sentinel node biopsy for early cervical cancer.

He outlines trial, aiming to deliver less invasive, more accurate results and ultimately improve survival compared to other surveillance biopsies.

The role of sentinel node biopsy in treating endometrial cancer was also discussed at the conference by Prof Pernille Jensen.

I was presenting the SENTICOL III trial which is a trial about sentinel node biopsy for early cervical cancer. We are starting now a validation study of sentinel node biopsy, the aim is to repress the classical lymphadenectomy, radical dissection by small targeted biopsy which takes only three or four nodes with less morbidity and a better diagnostic accuracy.
We have developed an international trial, we have just started in France last month. We are opening the trial in other countries and England will be part of the study so it’s a big work.

How many patients are enrolled?

950.

What are you looking to achieve?

We want to be sure that this technique will provide a similar survival as the classical dissection. It’s very important because we want a good result in terms of survival and also we will assess morbidity and quality of life which is a very important issue. We expect a better quality of life with the technique.

What is the status of the trial?

It’s underway now and it will last for a long time because the recruitment will cover three or four years. It’s an important trial because I hope that we will validate this new technique but it’s also a good opportunity to make a lot of research about this kind of population. Cervical cancer is more and more rare in developed countries but we have to improve our treatment because these women are young, they generally have a good prognosis so we have to improve quality of life and especially long-term quality of life after our treatments. We have also to develop translational research because there are a lot of aspects which are not well understood or well known in the risk of recurrence [??]. So this study will be the backbone of a larger work on cervical cancer.

Would this be of potential interest for developing countries where vaccination is rarer?

Yes, I think that vaccination is the priority for this country because we have to decrease the incidence of these cancers of course.

Does this currently happen in France?

Vaccination is not very popular in France, no. Only a minority of people are vaccinated.