Validity of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography for pretreatment evaluation of patients with cervical carcinoma: a retrospective pathology-matched study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for pretreatment evaluation of patients with cervical carcinoma.

Methods: Retrospective evaluation of 63 patients, diagnosed with stage IA-IIA cervical carcinoma who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT before surgery, was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, likelihood ratios (LRs) of PET/CT for predicting the positive cervix, vagina, uterine body, and lymph node invasion at the surgical specimen was calculated.

Results: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the positive cervix invasion in PET/CT to detect positive surgical specimen were 88.2%, 75%, 93.8%, and 60%, respectively. The LR+ ratio was 3.5, and the LR- ratio was 0.2. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the positive vagina invasion in PET/CT to detect positive surgical specimen were 100%, 70.97%, 5.3%, and 100%, respectively. The LR+ ratio was 3.4, and the LR- ratio was 0. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the positive uterine body invasion in PET/CT to detect positive surgical specimen were 75%, 83.1%, 23.1%, and 98%, respectively. The LR+ ratio was 4.4, and the LR- ratio was 0.3. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the positive lymph node invasion in PET/CT to detect positive surgical specimen were 87.5%, 78.4%, 38.9%, and 97.6%, respectively. The LR+ ratio was 4.1, and the LR- ratio was 0.2.

Conclusions: The cervix invasion, negative uterine body invasion, and negative lymph node invasion are effective 18F-FDG PET/CT findings.