Objective  The aim of the current study is to determine the clinical efficacy of neo-adjuvant intra-arterial chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical carcinoma.

  Methods  From January 1997 to December 2005, 87 previously untreated patients with stage IB2-IIB cervical cancers were randomly divided into two groups: IA-NAC and IV-NAC.The drugs used in the current study included cisplatin(60 mg/m²) with mitomycin(10 mg/m²), bleomycin(25 mg/m²), and vincristine(1 mg/m²) or cisplatin(70 mg/m²) with doxorubicin hydrochloride(30 mg/m²) for one course.The response was assessed using pelvic and histological examinations.

  Results  Significant differences in the overall clinical response rate between the two groups were observed.The three-and five-year survival rates were not significantly different either.The operability ofⅡb stage patients was higher in IA-NAC group(P < 0.05) compared with theIV-NAC group, and no significant differences in the mean survival time was found between the two groups(P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  Neo-adjuvant intra-arterial chemotherapy can increase the operability rate in patients with stage IIB cervical cancer and can raise the mean survival time.However, neo-adjuvant intra-arterial chemotherapy does not improve long-term survival rates compared with intravenous chemotherapy.