Srpski Arhiv za Celokupno Lekarstvo (Jan 2024)

Diagnostic role and prognostic impact of positron emission tomography/computed tomography in patients treated for uterine corpus cancer

  • Stojiljković Milica,
  • Šobić-Šaranović Dragana,
  • Odalović Strahinja,
  • Petrović Jelena,
  • Popović-Krneta Marina,
  • Veljković Miloš,
  • Ranković Nevena,
  • Artiko Vera

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH230504013S
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 152, no. 3-4
pp. 168 – 174

Abstract

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Introduction/Objective. The goal of our research was to evaluate diagnostic and prognostic role of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT) in patients previously treated for uterine cancer and compare it to conventional imaging methods (CIM). Methods. We analyzed 37 patients examined on PET-CT for follow-up or suspicion of uterine cancer recurrence, and who were previously treated with surgery and/or chemoradiotherapy. All patients underwent CT or magnetic resonance imaging prior to PET-CT, and were followed-up for at least one year. Results. PET-CT showed sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy in uterine cancer relapse detection of 96.3%, 70%, and 89.2%, while those values for CIM were 92.6%, 40%, and 78.4 %, respectively. Correlation of PET-CT and CIM findings was 78% (29/37). In 13 out of 25 true positive patients on CIM, PET-CT found greater number of active sites missed by conventional imaging. Positive findings on PET-CT were associated with shorter progression free survival (p = 0.023, logrank test). Conclusion. PET-CT constitutes an important diagnostic method in management of recurrent cancer of uterine corpus, demonstrating high sensitivity and accuracy. In comparison to CIM, PET-CT can discover larger number of active tumor sites, and also shows better specificity. PET-CT positive patients have worse prognosis with shorter progression free survival.

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