Study: FDG PET/CT predicts recurrence of uterine cervical cancer

Preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging has prognostic significance in patients with uterine cervical cancer, according to a study published March 30 in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

Hyun Hoon Chung, MD and colleagues at the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Cancer Research Institute at Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues performed FDG-PET/CT before radical surgery in 75 patients with FIGO stage IB to IIA cervical cancer.

The researchers also reviewed medical records of all the patients including clinical data, treatment modalities, and treatment results and examined the relationship between the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of FDG in the primary tumor and during recurrence. The median duration of follow-up was 13 months (range three to 58 months) after treatment.

Chung and colleagues found that the median preoperative SUVmax values in the primary tumors were significantly higher in patients who had higher FIGO stages, pelvic lymph node metastasis, parametrial involvement, larger tumor size (greater than 4 cm), lymphovascular space invasion and deep cervical stromal invasion.

The researchers also noted that preoperative SUVmax in the primary tumor was significantly associated with recurrence both by univariate and multivariate analysis.

“In univariate analysis, lymph node metastasis, parametrial invasion, lymphovascular space invasion, and preoperative SUV max in the primary tumor were significantly associated with recurrence. In multivariate analysis, preoperative SUV max, age and parametrial involvement by primary tumor were significantly associated with recurrence,” wrote Chung and colleagues.

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