A new study shows that taking 600 mg of Tegafur per day in a combination with uracil, Tegafur-uracil (UFT), helps patients with uterine cervical cancer to survive.

The study was intended to analyze data from 309 patients with uterine cervical cancer with 162 receiving UFT in a dose of 600 mg per day of Tegafur as a maintenance therapy and then the survival rate was compared to that for those 147 controls who did not receive the treatment.  All patients received an initial treatment.

The study found a significantly higher overall survival rate in the UFT group, particularly those with stage III diseases or squamous cell carcinoma and those receiving treatment concomitantly or previously by radiotherapy, compared with the controls.

The treatment for uterine cervical cancer did yield a high rate of side effects or adverse effects including nausea/vomiting (12.2%), appetite loss (10.1% and leukopenia/neutropenia (5.8%).

The study concluded” High-dose oral UFT maintenance treatment prolonged the disease-free survival and overall survival of patients with uterine cervical cancer, particularly of those with advanced disease."

Sakaguchi I, Motohara T, Saito F, Takaishi K, Fukumatsu Y, Tohya T, Shibata S, Mimori H, Tashiro H, Katabuchi H.  High-dose oral tegafur-uracil maintenance therapy in patients with uterine cervical cancer. J Gynecol Oncol. 2015 Feb 17.