Histological results of para-aortic lymph node dissection in patients with negative PET-CT for locally advanced cervical cancer in Reunion Island.

Objectives: In locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC), para-aortic staging is required to determine therapeutic strategy and may be performed using PET-CT; if the scan is negative in the para-aortic region, surgical staging is optional. The aim of the study was to evaluate histological results of para-aortic lymph node dissection in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer and negative PET-CT in Reunion Island.

Materiel Et Methods: This is a bicentric retrospective study including patients from January 2014 to December 2023 at Saint-Denis and Saint-Pierre university hospitals. Patients with LACC and negative PET-CT in para-aortic region prior to lymphadenectomy were included. The primary outcome was to evaluate the rate of false negative results on PET-CT in lumbo-aortic region in patients with cervicale cancer.

Results: In all, 66 patients were included for analysis. A total of 7 patients (10.6%) had positive lymph nodes on histology examination when PET-CT was negative. Three patients had positive pelvic PET-CT whereas the 4 remaining patients had a negative pelvic PET-CT.

Conclusion: 10.6% of patients with negative para-aortic PET-CT had positive histology results. There was no significant difference between the para-aortic histological results depending on the pelvic PET-CT results. The PAROLA study, which is currently being recruited, should provide an answer to the question of the benefit of lumbo-aortic lymph node dissection on recurrence-free survival at 3 years.