04/28/2026
Improving outcomes in gynecologic oncology requires addressing access to care and timely initiation of treatment. Interestingly, even though overall treatment time OTT is a well known factor correlated with cervical cancer outcomes, study of time of treatment initiation has not been well studied with no current standard existing in guidelines. Our study aimed to explore the demographic and clinical factors associated with delayed initiation of treatment for patients with cervical cancer treated with chemoradiation and brachytherapy and determine its impact on oncologic outcomes reviewing a 10 year database I created to report outcomes of patients with stage IB2 to IVA cervical cancer from 2009 to 2019.
Patients who initiated treatment within 8 weeks of diagnosis (early) were compared with those who initiated treatment after 8 weeks (delayed). We found that treatment initiation were associated with a decrement in . In this cohort, public hospital patients were more likely to have a favorable stage and improved survival than those from the private hospital but also were more likely to experience treatment initiation delays. Referral patterns and delays related to diagnostic workup were the most common factors contributing to delays in care establishment with
nearly 40% of patients with cervical cancer initiated treatment 8 weeks or later from the time of diagnosis. System factors, such as transferring care for oncologic treatment or diagnostic workup, were the most common reasons for delays. Each incremental increase in treatment initiation of 10 days was associated with worse overall survival. Full paper at: vhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048891X25018961?via%3Dihub
