BACKGROUND: The treatment outcome of advanced stage uterine cervical carcinoma remains unsatisfactory. In order to elaborate a novel trial within The Radiotherapy Cooperative Group (RCG) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), we conducted a survey in 1997-1998 to determine the variability of pre-treatment assessment and treatment options. The variability of choosing surgery, defined radiation therapy techniques and chemotherapy are investigated, as well as the center's choices of future treatment strategies. METHODS: Fifty two of 81 RCG centers from the RCG have participated in the survey. As one would expect, there is a large variation in the techniques used for pretreatment evaluation and treatment options. There is no 'standard' for reporting acute and late side effects. Chemotherapy is used neither systematically nor uniformly, and some centers continue to use neadjuvant chemotherapy modalities. RESULTS: Furthermore, the survey reveals that there is a strong demand for the reduction of overall treatment-time, for clinical investigation of novel combined modality treatment strategies, especially chemo-radiation therapy, and also for the use of new radiation sensitizers. CONCLUSION: We conclude that a more homogeneous approach to the pretreatment evaluation as well as treatment techniques is required in order to allow adequate quality control in any future trial of the RCG in the EORTC.