Can preoperative MRI accurately evaluate nodal and parametrial invasion in early stage cervical cancer?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the pretreatment evaluation of invasive cervical cancer especially for the parametrial invasion and lymph node (LN) involvement.


METHODS
We retrospectively recruited consecutive patients with biopsy-confirmed cervical cancer who had undergone preoperative MRI and were scheduled for surgery based on clinical assessment between January 2004 and May 2006. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of MRI for the parametrial invasion and LN involvement using surgicopathologic findings as the reference standard.


RESULTS
A total of 119 eligible patients completed preoperative and intra-operative survey, of whom 34 (28.6%) had pelvic LN metastasis and four (3.4%) had para-aortic LN metastasis histologically. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of MRI in detecting LN involvement by region-specific analysis were 40.5, 91.3 and 86.8% respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of MRI in detecting parametrial invasion were 44.4, 89.1 and 88.3% respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV) of preoperative MRI for detecting region-specific LN involvement and parametrial invasion was 31.3 and 61.2%, respectively. Imaging findings of suspected parametrial invasion were not to influence the treatment decision in the study.


CONCLUSIONS
Preoperative MRI showed low PPV for detecting LN involvement and parametrial invasion in cervical cancer. Further studies are necessary to determine the cost-effectiveness of using MRI in place of conventional clinical staging tests according to clinical indication and also its use in comparison with that of integrated positron emission tomography/computed tomography.
Chung
Hyun Hoon
HH
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kang
Soon-Beom
SB
Cho
Jeong Yeon
JY
Kim
Jae Weon
JW
Park
Noh-Hyun
NH
Song
Yong-Sang
YS
Kim
Seung Hyup
SH
Lee
Hyo-Pyo
HP
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*