Complications of uterine cervix treatments: proposal for a glossary for a uniform classification.

Complications and inevitable sequelae or side effects of Uterine Cervix Cancer Treatments are reported in many Papers. Some Authors simply describe the observed complications, others use some kind of Classification. The major problem is that, as complications are often a very soft endpoint, reporting criteria and classifications used vary from one Author to another, in such a way that no comparison is possible between data reported by different Authors. Sometimes the same Author uses different classifications and reporting criteria in different papers. Moreover no comparison is possible between complications arising from different treatment modalities like Surgery, Radiotherapy or combined Radio-Surgical treatment. In this paper a classification encompassing virtually all the complications that can be observed with any possible treatment of uterine cervix cancer is proposed. Complications, divided by anatomical site and classified in different degrees according to their severity, are gathered into a glossary. General rules for the use of the glossary are given.