Quality assurance for radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer: the view of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Gynecological Cancer Group (EORTC-GCG)

Radical hysterectomy combined with a pelvic lymphadenectomy or chemoradiation are traditionally the mainstays of treatment of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages Ia2-IIa cervical cancer. The quality of radical surgery for cervical cancer influences local tumor control and survival. Hence, it is important to optimize and ensure the quality of surgical care for cervical cancer patients. In this paper, we discuss factors that are related to outcome after radical hysterectomy and propose a set of quality indicators that can be used to audit and improve the quality of surgical care for cervical cancer patients.