Rebuttal to Drs. Nout and Creutzberg

摘要

Given the lack of survival benefit in this group, it now seems a reasonable option to withhold vaginal brachyther-apy in this group. They will of course need a closer follow-up protocol if we are to fry and detect these salvageable recurrences. Recent proposals have questioned the whole area of followup and who should be seen and by whom. It can be argued that gynecologists or specialist trained nurses could take on this role. Most relapses will be predicted to occur in the first 2-3 years so that after 3 years true low-risk patients can probably be discharged or only seen annually up to the 5-year mark. The long-planned FIGURE study in the United Kingdom hoping to evaluate the role of followup in gynecologic cancer patients however has been dogged by issues over funding of the trial. It remains to be hoped that this can be achieved as it addresses important questions.