The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of sentinel node frozen biopsy to minimize the extensive pelvic lymph nodes dissection in early stage cervical cancer patients on the basis that the risk of skip metastasis to the paraaortic area is negligible. Twenty-six patients with early stage cervical cancer were enrolled in this study. Technetium-99m colloid albumin (Tc(99m)) was injected intradermally around the tumor for allowing preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative hand-held gama probe detection of seninel nodes. For visual detection, isosulfan blue dye was injected into the peritumoral sites before peritoneal opening. Postoperative morbidity and negative predictive value were the endpoints of this study. The 26 patients, ranging in age from 32 to 71 yr, underwent intraoperative sentinel nodes mapping. All the patients underwent complete pelvic lymph nodes dissection including para-aortic nodes. There was one case with positive non-sentinel nodes despite the negative sentinel node by frozen biopsy (negative predictive value, 95.2%). This new technique of sentinel node mapping is safe and simple to perform. Further clinical trials using the combination of Tc(99m) and isosulfan blue dye are warranted and this technique will make a true advance for less aggressive management of patients with early stage cervical cancer.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; *Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes/pathology/radionuclide imaging/*surgery ; Middle Aged ; Pelvic Neoplasms/*pathology/radionuclide imaging/surgery ; Pelvis ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Rosaniline Dyes/metabolism ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; *Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy ; Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin/diagnostic use ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/*pathology/radionuclide imaging/surgery

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the prognostic value of intratumoral [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake heterogeneity (IFH) derived from positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with cervical cancer. METHODS: Patients with uterine cervical cancer of the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO) stage IB to IIA were imaged with [18F]FDG PET/CT before radical surgery. PET/CT parameters such as maximum and average standardized uptake values (SUV(max) and SUV(avg)), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), and IFH were assessed. Regression analyses were used to identify clinicopathological and imaging variables associated with progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: We retrospectively reviewed clinical data of 85 eligible patients. Median PFS was 32 months (range, 6 to 83 months), with recurrence observed in 14 patients (16.5%). IFH at an SUV of 2.0 was correlated with primary tumor size (p<0.001), SUV(tumor) (p<0.001), MTV(tumor) (p<0.001), TLG(tumor) (p<0.001), depth of cervical invasion (p<0.001), and negatively correlated with age (p=0.036). Tumor recurrence was significantly associated with TLG(tumor) (p<0.001), MTV(tumor) (p=0.001), SUV(LN) (p=0.004), IFH (p=0.005), SUV(tumor) (p=0.015), and FIGO stage (p=0.015). Multivariate analysis identified that IFH (p=0.028; hazard ratio, 756.997; 95% CI, 2.047 to 279,923.191) was the only independent risk factor for recurrence. The Kaplan-Meier survival graphs showed that PFS significantly differed in groups categorized based on IFH (p=0.013, log-rank test). CONCLUSION: Preoperative IFH was significantly associated with cervical cancer recurrence. [18F]FDG based heterogeneity may be a useful and potential predicator of patient recurrence before treatment.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism/*radionuclide imaging/secondary ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/*pharmacokinetics ; Glycolysis ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Multimodal Imaging ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/metabolism/radionuclide imaging ; Neoplasm Staging ; *Positron-Emission Tomography ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Radiopharmaceuticals/*pharmacokinetics ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tumor Burden ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/metabolism/pathology/*radionuclide imaging