This paper aims to show that the indwelling intrauterine tube (IIUT) is safe and can abolish repeated anaesthetics and large doses per fraction (Joslin et al, 1972) typical of high-dose-rate afterloading intracavitary treatment of carcinoma of the cervix. Highdose-rate schedules for Stage IB disease require as many as 12 (Liversage, 1969) to 17 (Dale, 1985) fractions for radiobiological equivalence with low-dose-rate schedules. The purpose of the IIUT is to act as a semipermanent channel for the applicator tube of the afterloading unit. We use the Gammamed II with a single high-activity 192Ir source (Busch et al, 1977), but the IIUT could probably be adapted for use with any brachytherapy machine or even manual afterloading systems.

No abstract

The treatment and prognosis of invasive cervical carcinoma depends on proper clinical staging. The prestaging investigations are time-consuming and costly and 3rd world countries find it difficult to adhere to 1st world protocols. In the search for a more cost-effective but safe protocol for pre-treatment investigation the analysis of some of the special investigations performed on a total of 903 patients with invasive cervical carcinoma have proven beyond doubt that some of these investigations can be omitted without harming the patient. The Gynecologic Oncology Unit of the Tygerberg Hospital R.S.A. propose such a cost-effective protocol provided some criteria are strictly adhered to in safe-guarding proper health care.

The current study was confined to a cohort of patients, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, whose ethnic and geographic origins were not available. The extrapolation of findings from this study to the rest of the South African population may not be valid. A cribriform growth pattern occurs in the majority of cases of multiple TEs.