Is cervical cancer curable?

Q: My 48 years old mother is diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 1 B2. She is undergoing radiation therapy treatment (3D CRT). Is this cancer curable? What are the side effects of this radiation therapy?

A:The stage of cervical cancer in which your mother is a highly curable disease with success rate of approximately 90%. She has received 3DCRT, which is conformal external beam radiation therapy. Her treatment is not complete without intracavitary radiation therapy (ICRT). Kindly check with your radiation oncologist about this treatment.A properly delivered radiation therapy does not lead to any late toxicities. However 5% patients may develop late radiation toxicities in the form of urinary and rectal bleeding, which usually occur between 1-2 years of completion of treatment.