Metabolic response of lymph nodes immediately after RT is related with survival outcome of patients with pelvic node-positive cervical cancer using consecutive [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography.

Purpose: To evaluate the metabolic response of uterine cervix and pelvic lymph nodes (LNs) using consecutive 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) immediately after RT and to correlate survival outcome with the metabolic response.

Methods And Materials: We retrospectively reviewed 48 patients with cervical cancer who had positive pelvic LNs by preradiation therapy (pre-RT) PET/CT. All patients underwent PET/CT scans immediately after RT (inter-RT PET/CT) after median 63 Gy to the gross LNs. The metabolic response of the LNs was assessed quantitatively and semiquantitatively by measurement of the maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax).

Results: Classifying the metabolic response of all nodal lesions, 37 patients (77%) had LNs with complete metabolic response on the inter-RT PET/CT (LNCMRi), and 11 patients had a non-LNCMRi, including 4 patients with progressive metabolic disease. The overall 3-year survival rates were 83% for the patients with LNCMRi and 73% for the non-LNCMRi group (P=.038). The disease-free survival for patients with LNCMRi were significantly better than that for the non-LNCMRi group (71% vs 18%, respectively, P<.001). The 3-year distant metastasis-free survival rates were 79% for the patients with LNCMRi and 27% for the non-LNCMRi group (P<.001). There were no statistically significant differences in overall survival (76% vs 86%, respectively, P=.954) and disease-free survival rates (58% vs 61%, respectively, P=.818) between the CMR of primary cervical tumor and the non-CMR groups.

Conclusions: The results showed a significant correlation between survival outcome and the interim metabolic response of pelvic LNs. CMR of nodal lesion on inter-RT PET/CT had excellent overall survival, disease-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival rates. This suggested that PET/CT immediately after RT can be a useful tool for the evaluation of the interim response of the LNs and identify a subset of patients with a high risk of recurrence and poor survival in patients with cervical cancer with initial positive LNs.