treatment

Last edited 05/2019

Management depends on staging.

Factors to be considered in planning therapy for vaginal cancer include:

• stage and size of the lesion
  
  
• proximity to radiosensitive organs or organs that preclude radical resection without unacceptable functional deficits (e.g., bladder, rectum, urethra)
  
  
• ability to retain a functional vagina
  
  
• presence or absence of the uterus
  
  
• whether there has been previous pelvic radiation therapy
  
  
• proximity of the vagina to the bladder or rectum limits surgical treatment options and increases short- and long-term surgical complications and functional deficits involving these organs

Stage I or II vaginal cancer

• radiation or surgery or a combination of these treatments are standard treatment

Stages III and IVA vaginal cancer

• radiation therapy is standard and includes external-beam radiation, alone or with brachytherapy. Regional lymph nodes are included in the radiation portal

Stage IVB or recurrent disease that cannot be managed with local treatments

• current therapy is inadequate
• no established anticancer drugs can be considered of proven clinical benefit, although patients are often treated with regimens used to treat cervical cancer