Treatments for stage 1 vaginal cancer

You may be offered the following treatments for stage 1 vaginal cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. You may be offered radiation therapy or chemoradiation to treat stage 1 vaginal cancer.

Radiation therapy alone may be used to treat smaller squamous cell vaginal tumours (less than 2 cm in size and less than 0.5 cm thick) in the middle (or distal) part of the vagina. Intracavitary radiation is usually used. It may be combined with external radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy is used as the main treatment for adenocarcinomas in the lower part of the vagina. Usually both brachytherapy and external radiation therapy are given. External radiation therapy is often given to the lymph nodes in the groin or pelvis or both.

Radiation therapy may be given after surgery for vaginal cancer when the surgical margins have cancer cells in them or cancer cells come close to the surgical cuts (incisions). External radiation therapy may also be given to the lymph nodes in the pelvis.

Chemoradiation may be used instead of radiation therapy alone to treat vaginal cancer. The most common chemotherapy drug given during radiation therapy is cisplatin, but other chemotherapy drugs may also be used.

Find out more about radiation therapy for vaginal cancer.

You may be offered surgery for stage 1 vaginal cancer. Radiation therapy may be given after surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back (recurrence).

Surgery is used to treat cancer in the upper part of the vagina. Cancer in the lower part of the vagina is usually treated with radiation therapy instead.

Types of surgery used to treat vaginal cancer include:

• a wide local excision if the tumour is small and in the lower part of the vagina
• a radical hysterectomy and a partial or radical vaginectomy if the tumour is located higher in the vagina near the cervix
• a lymph node dissection of pelvic or groin lymph nodes or both
• vaginal reconstruction if the vagina has been removed

Find out more about surgery for vaginal cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with vaginal cancer in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.