Keywords:
Genital / Reproductive system female, Pelvis, MR, Imaging sequences, Cancer
Authors:
B. Sghedoni, F. Fiocchi, M. C. Gibertini, M. G. Vitale, I. Di Monte, L. Botticelli, G. De Marco, P. Torricelli; Modena/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-2393
Conclusion
The results of our study underlines the performance of MRI as an important diagnostic tool to identify patients with PMI in the preoperative assessment of cervical cancer.
The evaluation of PMI based on T2WI helps in accurately stratifying patients with cervical cancer both to determine the most appropriate management (surgery,
chemoradiation therapy,
adjuvant treatment after surgery) and to ensure the best clinical post-treatment outcomes.
The present study also demonstrated that ADC mean values were significantly different in patients with and without PMI and Diffusion weighted imaging must be included in the protocol study,
because ADC values improve T2WI accuracy in diagnosing PMI in patients with cervical cancer.
Last but not least,
the two most important limitation factors of our study,
consisted in its retrospective nature,
that may have resulted in selection bias,
and in the small number of patients studied.
Nonetheless,
the introduction and largely available cervical cancer screening program and its high adherence by female population in our province,
not only have caused an important reduction of mortality rates,
but also allowed to detect tumors at an early stage where second level imaging plays no role.