D a group of patients with advanced cancer of the cervix has been studied while receiving varying doses of diethylstilbestrol. The results of the study are based on clinical examinations at frequent intervals. Laboratory data are largely confined to the pathological study of tissue specimens and to exfoliative cytology.
A total of twenty-five patients were followed for periods varying from three to thirty months. In this group were fifteen white patients and ten Negroes. The majority of the patients (seventeen) were in the postmenopausal group. Fifteen of those included in the stiidy were selected because of failure to respond to radiation with recurrent or residual disease of a few months to seventeen years following therapy. Four patients were classed as League of Nations stage 111, and the remaining as stage Iv's.
An attempt was made to have the patients examined by a large group of qualified and unbiased observers. Both the objective and siibjective findings were evaluated as carefully as possible.
Since the major objective of palliation in this type patient is the control of excessive vaginal bleeding, the hemostatic effect was classified as good, fair, and none. It was noted that twenty-four patients had marked decrease or cessation of bleeding beginning in a time interval from twenty-four hours to several weeks.
It was also noted that, following a certain dosage routine, the patient tended to escape control after an average of eight to ten weeks, and an increase in dosage became mandatory.