Role of magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography/computed tomography in preoperative lymph node detection of uterine cervical cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the preoperative detection of lymph node metastases in patients with uterine cervical cancer. This retrospective study reviewed patients with cervical cancer who had undergone both preoperative MRI and PET/CT before radical surgery, including lymphadenectomy between 2004-2008. Eighty-three patients were identified, of whom 28 (33.7%) had pelvic lymph node metastasis. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detecting lymph node metastasis were 64.3%, 69.1%, and 67.5% for MRI, and 28.6%, 83.6%, and 65.1% for PET/CT, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristics for the MRI and PET/CT were 0.667 and 0.561, respectively (P = .013). MRI showed significantly higher sensitivity for detecting metastatic lymph nodes than PET/CT (P = .006). MRI was more sensitive than PET/CT for detecting metastatic lymph node in patients with cervical cancer.