Objective To analysis the status of interstitial brachytherapy(ISBT) treatment of cervical cancer and compare the application of different ISBT modes.

Methods The databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library(2015. Issue12), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang were searched from the starting to December 31st, 2015. The clinical studies on ISBT were comprehensively collected. Articles were screened by two reviewers and the process of extraction was done by pre-designed table including general characteristic and radiation-related clinical features.

Results A total of 85 studies were included, 35 in English and 50 in Chinese. 24.7%(21/85) were clinical controlled studies. The first authors in English studies were mainly from America (13/35) and India (6/35), while those in the Chinese articles were mainly from Guangzhou (10/50) and Jiangsu(7/50) of China. Chinese articles were from 43 journals and only 18.0%(9/50) were included by CSCD. The reporting of follow-up time, feature of ISBT and treatment guided methods was incomplete. Most studies (60/68) used high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy, and 11 modes were applied. The mode of 5.5-6Gy per fraction and 5-6 fractions twice a day were used by transperineal ISBT in 32%(8/25) of English studies, but 53.1%(17/32) of Chinese studies used 6-12Gy per fraction and 1-3 fractions weekly by barehanded ISBT.

Conclusion The reporting of ISBT on cervical cancer is still incomplete, especially in Chinese studies. The number of controlled trial is small. The modes of ISBT are various and non-standard. It has significant differences in ISBT dose, template and anesthesia.