The American Cancer Society estimates that 12 710 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4290 women will die from the disease in 2011.1 Although incidence and mortality from cervical cancer have declined since the introduction of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test, approximately 35% of cervical cancer patients are diagnosed with regional disease and 11% with distant-stage disease.2,3 Prognosis is strongly related to stage: the 5-year relative survival rate is 91.2% for patients with localized disease, but only 57.8% for patients with regional disease and 17.0% for those with distant disease