Definitive local therapy is often used in metastatic cervical cancer to reduce morbidity associated with local tumor progression. However, the potential benefit of this therapeutic approach has not been rigorously investigated. We hypothesized that definitive local therapy is associated with improved overall survival (OS) in metastatic cervical cancer.

Patients aged ≥18 years with newly diagnosed metastatic cervical cancer who were treated with chemotherapy were identified from the National Cancer Database. Patients were dichotomized into the following cohorts: definitive local therapy (defined as either concurrent chemoradiation therapy or definitive surgery) or conservative therapy (defined as systemic therapy with or without palliative radiation therapy). The association between definitive local therapy and OS was assessed using propensity score-weighted Cox proportional hazards models. Potential unmeasured confounding was assessed through sensitivity analyses. Factors associated with the receipt of definitive local therapy were identified with multivariable logistic regression.

A total of 2838 patients were identified, of whom 1194 (42%) and 1644 (58%) were treated with definitive local and conservative therapy, respectively. Receipt of definitive local therapy was statistically significant, associated with less comorbidity, lower clinical T stage, and node negative disease. Compared with conservative therapy, definitive local therapy was associated with improved OS (hazard ratio: 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.62; P ≤ .001). The median OS rate was 19.2 months in the definitive local therapy cohort and 10.1 months in the conservative therapy cohort. These findings were robust to potential unmeasured confounding in sensitivity analyses and on landmark analyses of patients who survived at least 12 months (hazard ratio: 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.62-0.82; P ≤ .001).

Definitive local therapy is associated with improved OS in patients with metastatic cervical cancer. These findings suggest a novel setting for the use of definitive local therapy in the metastatic setting.