FDG-PET in cervical cancer: staging, re-staging and follow-up.
BACKGROUND
Correctly visualising the extent of the disease in cervical cancer is difficult with today's conventional imaging modalities. This paper presents the interim analysis of an on-going prospective study to evaluate the potential role of FDG-PET with software fusion with CT images in 3 different clinical settings of cervical cancer.


METHODS
In Group 1, 10 patients with early stage cervical cancer underwent FDG-PET 6 months after surgery. Group 2 consisted of 17 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who underwent FDG-PET as part of the staging procedure. In Group 3, 12 patients with verified relapse and 3 patients with a strong suspicion thereof underwent FDG-PET before starting any therapy. The FDG-PET results were compared with the results of the standard conventional work-up. All patients had a follow-up time of at least 6 months.


RESULTS
All FDG-PET scans in Group 1 were true negative. In Group 2, FDG-PET detected previously unknown locations of metastases in 4 patients, and a synchronous pulmonary carcinoma in 1 patient, resulting in a change in treatment plan for 4 patients. One false negative FDG-PET result was recorded. In Group 3, FDG-PET results led to a change in treatment plan for 3 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that FDG-PET provides crucial information in the pre-treatment staging procedure in patients with locally advanced or relapsed cervical cancer. However, in the follow-up of early cervix cancer, FDG-PET 6 months post-operatively offered no clinical benefit in this small group of patients.
Bjurberg
Maria
M
Department of Oncology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Kjellén
Elisabeth
E
Ohlsson
Tomas
T
Ridderheim
Mona
M
Brun
Eva
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18