Early response of patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer: a comparison of PET/CT and MRI.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the efficacy of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for early response evaluation of cervical cancer patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).


METHODS
Fifty-two patients were prospectively enrolled in the study. The pathologic findings were squamous cell carcinoma in 47 patients and adenocarcinoma in 5 patients. All patients underwent PET/CT and MRI scans before, during and within 1 month after completion of CCRT. The percent change in tumor volume during and after CCRT based on PET/CT and MRI images was compared.


RESULTS
There were significant differences (p < 0.001) between the initial tumor volume and tumor volume during and after CCRT as measured by both PET/CT and MRI. During CCRT, the percent volume reduction based on PET/CT images was significantly greater than the percent volume reduction calculated from MRI images (p = 0.024). However, after the completion of CCRT, no significant differences were found in volume reduction as calculated based on PET/CT versus MRI images (p = 0.289). The percent volume reduction of adenocarcinomas was significantly smaller than that of squamous cell carcinomas based on both PET/CT (p = 0.041) and MRI images (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant decreases in tumor volume were observed during and after CCRT in patients with cervical cancer. Tumor volume reduction on PET/CT images was greater than that on MRI images during CCRT. We suggest that early PET/CT as well as MRI scans could be taken during CCRT to evaluate tumor response and allow personalized treatment of cervical cancer.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
Jeong Eun
JE
Lee
Seung Jae
SJ
Huh
Heerim
H
Nam
Sang Gyu
SG
Ju
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D047368:Tumor Burden / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*