Lymphadenectomy in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Study (LiLACS): Phase III Clinical Trial Comparing Surgical With Radiologic Staging in Patients With Stages IB2–IVA Cervical Cancer

Radiation treatment planning for women with locally advanced cervical cancer (stages IB2–IVA) is often based on positron emission tomography (PET). PET, however, has poor sensitivity in detecting metastases in aortocaval nodes. We have initiated a study with the objective of determining whether pre-therapeutic laparoscopic surgical staging followed by tailored chemoradiation improves survival as compared with PET/computed tomography (CT) radiologic staging alone followed by chemoradiation. This international, multicenter phase III trial will enroll 600 women with stages IB2–IVA cervical cancer and PET/CT findings showing fluorodeoxyglucose-avid pelvic nodes and fluorodeoxyglucose-negative para-aortic nodes. Eligible patients will be randomized to undergo either pelvic radiotherapy with chemotherapy (standard-of-care arm) or surgical staging via a minimally invasive extraperitoneal approach followed by tailored radiotherapy with chemotherapy (experimental arm). The primary end point is overall survival. Secondary end points are disease-free survival, short- and long-term morbidity with pre-therapeutic surgical staging, and determination of anatomic locations of metastatic para-aortic nodes in relationship to the inferior mesenteric artery. We believe this study will show that tailored chemoradiation after pre-therapeutic surgical staging improves survival as compared with chemoradiation based on PET/CT in women with stages IB2–IVA cervical cancer.