Patient Achieves Remission of Stage 4 Cervical Cancer with Combination of Treatments

Cervical cancer continues to affect women despite the effective preventive vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) and screening tests.

[Video is in Spanish]

The incidence of cervical cancer among Hispanic women is among the highest in the United States, as are the mortality rates.

“In most cases, when a diagnosis of cervical cancer is made in Hispanic women, the cancer is at an advanced stage and the risk of death is higher,” says Dr. Matthew Pearson, an OB-GYN oncologist at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Recently, emerging therapies have offered new treatment opportunities and hope for women with this type of late-stage cancer or who have relapsed with it.

One of them is Marianella Astudillo, a 45-year-old.

After suffering constant abdominal pain, heavy and long-lasting menstrual bleeding, chills and abdominal distention, she was diagnosed in 2023 with cervical cancer.

“The first thing that crosses your mind is that you are going to die,” says Marianella, who admits that she skipped the Pap test that detects cervical cancer or precancers for several years.

Marianella was referred to Dr. Pearson. 

“At first, she thought her cancer was only in her pelvis; however, the results of a scan showed that the cervical cancer had spread to the lungs, so she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, which is the most advanced,” says Dr. Pearson.

Given this, Dr. Pearson turned to a new treatment based on the use of immunotherapy with PD-1 inhibitors during and after the first line of chemotherapy treatment.

Before starting treatment, a tumor biopsy was performed, which determined the presence of the tumor marker PDL-1, which made her a candidate to receive pembrolizumab immunotherapy and obtain its benefits.

This immunotherapy is used to increase the immune response of T cells. Within the immunotherapy regimen, bevacizumab was included and classified as a biological therapy preventing new blood vessel formation.

In June 2023, Marianella began treatment with the chemotherapy cisplatin and paclitaxel and immunotherapies.

By the sixth cycle of receiving these therapies, the lung metastases had disappeared, but the disease remained in the cervix.

However, after the ninth cycle, no type of cancer was recorded on images, and a laparoscopic hysterectomy was performed. Now, the final pathology report indicated that there was no residual cancer in the uterus.

 “When they showed me my most recent exams in March 2024, the images no longer showed cancer,” says Marianella.

“The doctor told me these exact words: You are a miracle because your cancer was very advanced.”

“Historically, it was not very common for patients with stage 4 cervical cancer to see a complete response to treatment with chemotherapy alone, so they had to continue it for the rest of their lives,” says Dr. Pearson.

Marianella will continue with a maintenance plan with immunotherapies for 2 years.

“During this part of the treatment period, quality of life improves because you don’t experience the side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea, malaise, fatigue, and neuropathy,” says Dr. Pearson.

Dr. Pearson says this revolutionary combination of chemotherapies with immunotherapies for stage 4 cervical cancer has led to a new standard of care that includes a routine biopsy to determine the presence of the tumor marker. 

“This is the first time in a long time that we have seen an increase in survival for patients with cervical cancer,” says Dr. Pearson. “The future is very promising as we continue to do more clinical studies to find even more effective treatments. We owe these advances to the brave women who participate in clinical studies,” he adds.

Marianella remains in remission and remains active at work and at home. “I am very grateful to have had the medical attention of Dr. Pearson and the Sylvester medical team,” says Marianella.

Article and video written and produced by Shirley Ravachi for ‘Cuidando Su Salud’, a series of healthcare-related stories that air regularly on Telemundo 51. For more stories like this, visit the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center YouTube channel.

Tags: Dr. Matthew Pearson, Gynecologic Cancer, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), OB-GYN, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center