Our aims were to investigate the treatment and clinicopathological variables in relation to prognosis in small cell neuroendocrine cervical carcinoma (SCNECC).

Clinical data of SCNECC patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages I-IV treated between 1987 and 2009 at member hospitals of the Taiwanese Gynecologic Oncology Group (TGOG) were retrospectively reviewed.

Of the 179 eligible patients, 104 were of FIGO stage I, 19 stage IIA, 23 stage IIB, 9 stage III, and 24 stage IV. The median failure-free survival (FFS) was 16.0 months, and the median cancer-specific survival (CSS) was 24.8 months. In multivariate analysis, FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis were selected as independent variables in stages I-IV. In stages IIB-IVB, primary treatment containing etoposide and platinum for at least 5 cycles (EP5+) (n=16) was associated with significantly better 5-year FFS (42.9% versus 11.8%, p=0.041) and CSS (45.6% versus 17.1%, p=0.035) compared to other treatments (n=40). Furthermore, concurrent chemoradiation with EP5+ (CCRT-EP5+) was associated with even better 5-year FFS (62.5% versus 13.1%, p=0.025) and CSS (75.0% versus 16.9%, p=0.016).

FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis are significant prognostic factors in SCNECC. In stages IIB-IVB, CCRT-EP5+ might be the treatment of choice, which could be also true for earlier stages. Despite limitations of a retrospective study spanning a long time period and heterogeneous managements, the results provide an important basis for designing future prospective studies.