The value of lymphography in the management of carcinoma of the cervix.
Lymphography has been used to evaluate the pelvic and para-aortic nodes in 205 patients with carcinoma of the cervix treated between 1970 and 1979. The incidence of positive nodes was found to be 17% for Stage I, 24% for Stage II, 52% for Stage III and 100% for Stage IV. Of 73 patients who had lymphograms before Wertheim's hysterectomy, four out of 59 patients (7%) with negative lymphograms had histologically positive nodes; four out of 14 (28%) with positive lymphograms had negative nodes. Within each FIGO stage a positive lymphogram indicated a poor prognosis. The actuarial 5-year survival rates for patients with negative and positive lymphograms were 94% and 55% respectively for Stage I, 72% and 64% for Stage II, and 34% and 17% for Stage III. Of 39 patients with positive lymphograms who died of tumour, 31 out of 39 (80%) had distant metastases, compared with nine out of 29 patients (31%) with negative lymphograms. It is concluded that lymphography is a valuable method of evaluating lymph node status in carcinoma of the cervix.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008220:Lymphography; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010388:Pelvis; D011379:Prognosis; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy