Stage Cervical Cancer Research Articles

Morbidity of adjuvant treatment in early cervical cancer: a retrospective cohort study in a Latin American center.

Radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node assessment is the standard of treatment in early cervical cancer. Adjuvant radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy are offered to patients with risk factors for recurrence. The objective of this study was to compare the incidence of severe (> G3) early or late morbidity related to treatment in patients with cervical cancer undergoing radical surgery with/without adjuvant treatment in a Latin American center. Retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer stage IA1 to IB1. Complications were evaluated according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0. The cumulative incidence of severe morbidity was estimated. Risk ratios (RR) were calculated to determine the factors associated with morbidity. 239 patients were included. 133 (55.6%) received only radical surgical management and 106 (44.4%) adjuvant treatment. The incidence of early morbidity was 18.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 12.6% to 26.5%] in the group without adjuvant treatment versus 21.7% (95% CI: 14.3% to 30.8%) in the adjuvant treatment group (p = 0.58). Late morbidity was 3% (95% CI: 1% to 7.5%) and 8.5% (95% CI: 4% to 15.5%), respectively (p = 0.063). No statistically significant differences regarding grade ≥ 3 morbidity between the groups was found (2.3% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.289). Complications during surgery is the only factor associated with postoperative morbidity related to treatment (RR = 4.1) (95% CI: 3% to 5.7%). In our study, the addition of adjuvant treatment for early cervical cancer patients who underwent radical surgery did not increase the incidence of severe early or late morbidity.

The Utility of Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Uterine Cervical Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Correct staging of cervical cancer is essential to establish the best therapeutic procedure and prognosis for the patient. MRI is the best imaging modality for local staging and follow-up. According to the latest ESUR guidelines, T2WI and DWI-MR sequences are fundamental in these settings, and CE-MRI remains optional. This systematic review, according to the PRISMA 2020 checklist, aims to give an overview of the literature regarding the use of contrast in MRI in cervical cancer and provide more specific indications of when it may be helpful. Systematic searches on PubMed and Web Of Science (WOS) were performed, and 97 papers were included; 1 paper was added considering the references of included articles. From our literature review, it emerged that many papers about the use of contrast in cervical cancer are dated, especially about staging and detection of tumor recurrence. We did not find strong evidence suggesting that CE-MRI is helpful in any clinical setting for cervical cancer staging and detection of tumor recurrence. There is growing evidence that perfusion parameters and perfusion-derived radiomics models might have a role as prognostic and predictive biomarkers, but the lack of standardization and validation limits their use in a research setting.

CD48 suppresses proliferation and migration as an immune-related prognostic signature in the cervical cancer immune microenvironment.

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in gynecology. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy are two particularly effective treatments. In this study, weighted gene co-expression network analysis and CIBERSORT algorithm that quantifies the composition of immune cells were used to analyze CC expression data based on the GEO database and identify modules related to T cells. Five candidate hub genes were identified by tumor-infiltrating immune cells estimation and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis according to CC data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Chemotherapeutic response, methylation, and gene mutation analyses were implemented so that the five candidate hub genes identified may be the potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets which were related to T cell infiltration. Moreover, the results of RT-qPCR revealed that CD48 was a tumor suppressor gene, which was negatively correlated with CC stages, lymph node metastasis, and differentiation. Furthermore, the functional study verified that the interference of CD48 was able to boost the proliferation and migration ability in vitro and the growth of transplanted tumors in vivo. Overall, we identified molecular targets related to immune infiltration and prognosis, regarded CD48 as a key molecule involved in the progression of CC, thus providing new insights into the development of molecular therapy and immunotherapeutics against CC.

Effect of Roy Adaptation Model on Sexual Function and Pain Coping Strategies among Women with Early Stage of Cervical Cancer

Effect of Roy Adaptation Model on Sexual Function and Pain Coping Strategies among Women with Early Stage of Cervical Cancer

High-resolution reduced field-of-view diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of cervical cancer.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has now become the best modality for the preoperative staging of cervical cancer. This study was to compare the value of high-resolution reduced field-of-view diffusion-weighted MR imaging (r-FOV DWI) with conventional field-of-view (c-FOV DWI) in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. Forty-five patients (25 patients with cervical cancer and 20 patients with normal cervix) received magnetic resonance (MR) scans (3.0T), including both r-FOV DWI and c-FOV DWI sequences. The image quality (IQ) of both sequences was subjectively assessed by two attending radiologists using a double-blind method and quantitatively by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Moreover, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values for cervical cancer were blindly measured by one technician on the ADC map. The subjective scores of r-FOV DWI images were higher than those of c-FOV DWI (P<0.0001), and the interrater reliability was in good agreement [Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ) =0.547-0.914]. There was a significant difference in CNR between the two DWI image groups (r-FOV DWI 12.73±5.56 vs. c-FOV DWI 11.21±5.92, P=0.019). The difference in mean ADC values between the two DWI sequences was statistically significant [r-FOV DWI (0.690±0.195)×10-3 mm2/s vs. c-FOV DWI (0.794±0.167)×10-3 mm2/s, P<0.001]. The ADC value of cervical cancer lesions [(0.690±0.195)×10-3 mm2/s] was significantly lower than that of normal cervix ADC value [(1.506±0.188)×10-3 mm2/s]. r-FOV DWI can effectively improve the spatial resolution of the image while reducing distortion and artifacts. Furthermore, it can help to diagnose cervical cancer more accurately for the more realistic ADC values.

Start so young? Defense of the primary HPV test as a screening test for cervical cancer in women aged 25 and over in Brazil.

e17531 Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the most frequent type of cancer on woman at reproductive age and on the puerperal pregnancy cycle in Brazil. It is a disease that can be prevented with the resources already available at Brazil’s public healthcare system.The most important risk factor for developing cervical cancer is infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). With the covid 19 pandemic, there was an advance in the possibility of carrying out an HPV test by PCR by through the government initiative "uterus is life" and we was asked what age should start the HPV test in the proposed screening organized. Methods: Descriptive, observational, cross sectional study Carried two cancer centers( using an adapted form, between 2020 2021 Sociodemographic data, cancer characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and evaluation of secondary data from the ministry of health (DATASUS) This study was approved by the institution’s ethics committee. Recife, Brazil. Results: From 2021 -2022, 240 patients with CC mean age 50,48y (SD ± 13.8; range 24-87), 15, 8 % &lt; 35 y, age of first sexual intercourse: mean age 16,7 (SD ± 3.2, range 11- 30) and 79,6 % &lt; 18y. age of first pregnancy mean 18 (SD ± 6.54; range 12- 36) 77,4 % &lt; 18 y.In the year 2019 of the number of patients undergoing treatment in the Brazilian public system (SUS), by age group, 14.076 patients &lt;35 y (58%). $821,000 was spent in 2019 on anticancer chemotherapy for CC in women &lt; 35 y. Conclusions: With a view to establishing an organized screening policy using the HPV test, considering the window of opportunity to diagnose the non-invasive cervical cancer stage, the onset of sexual activity and the age of first pregnancy among patients with invasive cervical cancer and the representativeness of patients with &lt; 35 years undergoing treatment for advanced CC. The "Utero é Vida" initiative recommended starting the screening of the HPV test from the age of 25 y, in addition to intensifying vaccination coverage against HPV.

Announcement of First Successfully Pregnancy Following Abdominal Radical Trachelectomy in Viet Nam

Objectives: Abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) is an alternative treatment for preserving fertility in selected patients with early - stage cervical cancer. This report to announce one case of successful conceive and gave birth following the abdominal radical trachelectomy. Materials and Methods: We have performed 12 cases of radical trachelectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy in The Oncology Hospital of Ho Chi Minh city between January 2018 and December 2022. One of them has successful live birth after procedure about six months.Results: The characteristics of the 12 adult patients, who underwent radical trachelectomy, included stage IB1 disease in all cases, a mean age of 31 years (range, 29–41), and a median estimated blood loss of 100 ml (range, 70–150). No one needed adjuvant treatments after surgery, and all cases resumed normal menstruation postoperatively. There were no intraoperative complications. Transurethral Foley catheters were removed in all cases at postoperative days 02 – 04. Cervical stenosis was observed in one case. One case had successfully conceived and gave births following the abdominal radical trachelectomy. All patients remain disease-free after a median 3 - year follow-up. Conclusions: ART with pelvic lymphadenectomy is a feasible operation for selected women with early-stage cervical cancer cases who desire to preserve reproductive function. Menstruation and reproductive function might be preserved after bilateral uterine vessel ligation.

Erken Evre Serviks Kanserinde Sedlis Kriterleri Gözönünde Bulundurularak Uygulanan Adjuvant Radyoterapi Sonuçları

Background/Aims:&#x0D; Investigation of the efficacy of adjuvant RT in cervical cancer stage I-IIA according to FIGO (2018) in terms of risk factors and oncologic outcomes.&#x0D; Methods: &#x0D; The study included 113 patients with FIGO stage I-IIA. Patients who received adjuvant external pelvic RT and/or intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) after surgery retrospectively analyzed for demographic data , histology, grade, tumor size , stage, LVSI, stromal invasion depth, type of lymphadenectomy, number of dissected pelvic / paraaortic lymph nodes , surgical margin, adjuvant therapies, local relapse, distant failure, overall survival, and progression-free survival.&#x0D; Results:&#x0D; After a median follow-up of 160 months, local recurrence was observed in 3 patients, distant metastasis in 6 patients and all-cause death in 15 patients. It was observed that only SID had a statistically significant effect on overall survival among the Sedlis criteria (p=0.04). The ten-year DFS and OS rates were 95% and 94%, respectively .&#x0D; Conclusions:&#x0D; Promising oncological results were obtained in early stage cervical cancer with adjuvant RT based on Sedlis criteria.

Oral Methadone versus Morphine IR for Patients with Cervical Cancer and Neuropathic Pain: A Prospective Randomised Controlled Trial.

In India, cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women and makes up for up to 29% of all registered cancer in females. Cancer-related pain is one of the major distressing symptoms for all cancer patients. Pain is characterised as somatic or neuropathic, and the total pain experience is often mixed. Conventional opioids are the backbone of analgesic treatment but are most often not sufficient in alleviating neuropathic pain, common in cervical cancer. Accumulating evidence of the advantage of methadone compared to conventional opioids, due to agonist action at both μ and q opioid receptors, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist activity and the ability to inhibit the reuptake of monoamines has been demonstrated. We hypothesised that, with these properties', methadone might be a good option for the treatment of neuropathic pain in patients with cervical cancer. Patients with cervical cancer stages ll-lll were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. A comparison was made between methadone versus immediate release morphine (IR morphine), with increasing doses until pain was controlled. Inclusion-period was from October 3rd to December 31st 2020, and the total patient-study period was 12 weeks. Pain intensity was assessed according to the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and Douleur Neuropathique (DN4). The primary objective was to determine whether methadone was clinically superior versus noninferior to morphine as an analgesic for the treatment of cancer related neuropathic pain in women with cervical cancer. A total of 85 women were included; five withdrew and six died during the study period, leaving 74 patients completing the study. All participants showed a reduction in mean values of NRS and DN4 from the time of inclusion and to the end of the study period, for IR morphine and methadone 8.4-2.7 and 8.6-1.5, respectively (P < 0.001). The DN4 score mean reduction for Morphine and Methadone were 6.12-1.37 and 6.05-0, respectively (P < 0.001). Side effects were more common in the group of patients receiving IR morphine compared to the patients treated with methadone. We found that Methadone had a superior analgesic effect with good overall tolerability compared with morphine as a first-line strong opioid for the management of cancer-related neuropathic pain.

Social determinants influencing cervical cancer diagnosis: an ecological study

BackgroundBarriers to accessing health care result in advanced cervical cancer. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Index of Social Responsibility (ISR) synthesizes the situation of each town concerning wealth, education, and longevity. This study aimed to evaluate in 645 municipalities the relation of the ISR with stage, age, and morphology in cervical cancer diagnosis.MethodsAn ecological study that used data from Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 2010 to 2017. The ISR was identified through government platforms and data on cancer through the Hospital Cancer Registry. The subjects were the 9,095 women aged 30 years or older. The ISR summarizes municipalities into five levels: dynamic (ISR5), unequal (ISR4), equitable (ISR3), in transition (ISR2), and vulnerable (ISR1). It was used the chi2 tests and logistic regression.ResultsThe proportion of stage 1 increased significantly with ISR level, ranging from 24.9% in ISR1 to 30.0% in ISR5 (p = 0.040). To every increase in ISR level, the chance of a woman being diagnosed in stage I was at least 30% higher. Woman living where ISR2 had a 1.4 times higher chance of being diagnosed in stage 1 than those living in ISR1 (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.07–1.84). Squamous tumors frequency decreased when ISR level increased (p = 0.117). A higher proportion of women under 50 years were observed when they lived in wealthier cities (ISR4 and ISR5) (42.2% vs. 44.6%, p = 0.016).ConclusionThe ISR was a good health indicator for understanding and predicting the social determinants in cervical cancer diagnosis. The proportion of stage I increased significantly in more favorable social conditions.

The bioinformatics analysis of the clinicopathological and prognostic significances of REG4 mRNA in gynecological cancers

To clarify the clinicopathological importance of REG4 mRNA expression, we used GEO, TCGA, xiantao, UALCAN, and Kaplan-Meier plotter for a bioinformatics analysis in breast, cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancers. Compared to normal tissues, REG4 expression was found to be upregulated in breast, cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers (p < 0.05). Breast cancer had a higher level of REG4 methylation than normal tissues (p < 0.05), which was negatively correlated with its mRNA expression. REG4 expression was positively correlated with oestrogen and progesterone receptor expression, and aggressiveness of PAM50 classification of breast cancer patients (p < 0.05). Breast infiltrating lobular carcinomas expressed more REG4 than ductal carcinomas (p < 0.05). The REG4-related signal pathways mainly included peptidase, keratinisation, brush border and digestion and so forth in gynecological cancers. Our results indicated that REG4 overexpression was associated with gynecological carcinogenesis and their histogenesis, and may be used as a marker for aggressive behaviour and prognosis of breast or cervical cancer. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? REG4 encodes a secretory c-type lectin and plays an essential role in inflammation, carcinogenesis, apoptotic and radiochemotherapeutic resistance. What do the results of this study add? As a standalone predictor, REG4 expression was positively correlated with progression-free survival. Expression of REG4 mRNA was positively associated with the T stage and adenosquamous cell carcinoma of cervical cancer. The top signal pathways related to REG4 included smell and chemical stimulus, peptidase, intermediate filament, and keratinisation in breast cancer; ligand-receptor interaction, metabolism of hormone, xenobiotic and retinol, peptidase, brush border and digestion in cervical and ovarian cancers; bile secretion, intermediate filament, chemical carcinogenesis, brush border and keratinisation in endometrial cancer. REG4 mRNA expression was positively correlated with DC cell infiltration in breast cancer, positively with Th17 cells, TFH, cytotoxic cells and T cells in cervical and endometrial cancers, and negatively with DC cell infiltration, cytotoxic cells and T cells in ovarian cancer. The top hub genes mainly included small proline rich protein 2B in breast cancer; fibrinogens and apoproteins in cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancers. What are the implications of these finding for clinical practice and/or further research? Our study has showed that REG4 mRNA expression is a potential biomarker or therapeutic target for gynaecologic cancers.

Primary Treatment for Clinically Early Cervical Cancer with Lymph Node Metastasis: Radical Surgery or Radiation?

To compare survival outcomes between primary radical surgery and primary radiation in early cervical cancer. Patient information was extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Results database. Patients diagnosed with early cervical cancer of stage T1a, T1b, and T2a (American Joint Committee on Cancer, 7th edition) from 1998 to 2015 were included in this study after propensity score matching. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Among the 4964 patients included in the study, 1080 patients were identified as having positive lymph nodes (N1), and 3884 patients were identified as having negative lymph nodes (N0). Patients with primary surgery had significantly longer 5-year OS than those with primary radiotherapy in both the N1 group (P<0.001) and N0 group (P<0.001). In the subgroup analysis, similar results were found in patients with positive lymph nodes of stage T1a (100.0% vs. 61.1%), T1b (84.1% vs. 64.3%), and T2a (74.4% vs. 63.8%). In patients with T1b1 and T2a1, primary surgery resulted in longer OS than primary radiation, but not in patients with T1b2 and T2a2. In multivariate analysis, the primary treatment was identified as an independent prognostic factor in both N1 and N0 patients (HRN1=2.522, 95% CI=1.919-3.054, PN1<0.001; HRN0=1.895, 95% CI=1.689-2.126, PN0<0.001). In early cervical cancer stage T1a, T1b1, and T2a1, primary surgery may result in longer OS than primary radiation for patients with and without lymph node metastasis.

Tumor Organoid and Spheroid Models for Cervical Cancer.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in women worldwide. Despite the global introduction of a preventive vaccine against the leading cause of cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, the incidence of this malignant disease is still very high, especially in economically challenged areas. New advances in cancer therapy, especially the rapid development and application of different immunotherapy strategies, have shown promising pre-clinical and clinical results. However, mortality from advanced stages of cervical cancer remains a significant concern. Precise and thorough evaluation of potential novel anti-cancer therapies in pre-clinical phases is indispensable for efficient development of new, more successful treatment options for cancer patients. Recently, 3D tumor models have become the gold standard in pre-clinical cancer research due to their capacity to better mimic the architecture and microenvironment of tumor tissue as compared to standard two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. This review will focus on the application of spheroids and patient-derived organoids (PDOs) as tumor models to develop novel therapies against cervical cancer, with an emphasis on the immunotherapies that specifically target cancer cells and modulate the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Evaluation of parametrial infiltration in patients with IB-IIB cervical cancer by a radiomics model integrating features from tumoral and peritumoral regions on 18 F-FDG PET/MRI images.

Parametrial infiltration (PMI) is an essential factor in staging and planning treatment of cervical cancer. The purpose of this study was to develop a radiomics model for accessing PMI in patients with IB-IIB cervical cancer using the features from 18 F-FDG PET/MRI images. In this retrospective study, 66 patients with FIGO stage IB-IIB cervical cancer (22 with PMI and 44 without PMI) underwent 18 F-FDG PET/MRI were divided into a training (n = 46) and a testing dataset (n = 20). Features were extracted from both tumoral and peritumoral regions on 18 F-FDG PET/MRI. Single-modality and multi-modality radiomics models were developed with random forest to predict PMI. The performance of models was evaluated with F1 score, accuracy and AUC. Kappa test was used to observe the differences between pathological results and PMI evaluated by radiomics-based models. Intraclass correlation coefficient for features extracted from each ROI was measured. Three-fold cross-validation was conducted to confirm the diagnostic ability of the features. The radiomics models developed by features from primary tumor on T2 weighted (F1 Score = 0.400, accuracy = 0.700, AUC = 0.708, Kappa = 0.211, P = 0.329) and peritumoral region on PET (F1 Score = 0.533, accuracy = 0.650, AUC = 0.714, Kappa = 0.271, P = 0.202) achieved better performances in the testing dataset among four single-ROI radiomics models. The combined model using the features from primary tumor on T2 weighted and peritumoral region on PET achieved the best performance (F1 Score = 0.727, accuracy = 0.850, AUC = 0.774, Kappa = 0.625, P < 0.05). The results suggest that 18 F-FDG PET/MRI could provide complementary information of cervical cancer. The radiomics-based method integrating the features from tumoral and peritumoral regions on 18 F-FDG PET/MRI had a superior performance on PMI evaluation.

An automated cervical cancer detection scheme using deeply supervised shuffle attention modified convolutional neural network model

Cervical malignant growth is the fourth most typical reason for disease demise in women around the world. In developing countries, women don’t approach sufficient screening methods because of the costly procedures to undergo examination regularly, scarce awareness and lack of access to the medical centre. Recently, deep learning-based radiomic methods have been introduced in differentiating vessel invasion from non-vessel invasion in Cervical Cancer (CC) by multi-parametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). However, this model doesn’t produce sufficient results. In this work, the MRI images are initially pre-processed using bilateral filtering. After pre-processing, the image is segmented by modified U-Net model in order to identify the cancerous region. Extraction of deep semantic information from images by using residual blocks in the processes of contractions and expansions. The last layer of the contracting route uses tightly coupled convolutions in the second phase to speed up feature recycling and feature propagation. It was inferred from the observations that the proposed model was effective as a predictive tool for detecting vessel invasions in preoperative early stages of CC. Proposed model produces 94.00% detection accuracy which is better than the other existing methods.

Evaluation of Cervical Cancer Staging Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Comparison with Surgical Staging

Background: Cervical cancer is prevalent cancer among women that correct diagnosis has very important role in its treatment. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in comparison with surgical staging. Also, we compared the accuracy of physical examination with surgical pathology. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed on women who had cervical cancer from the start of 2017 to the end of 2021. Age, tumor pathology report (squamous cell carcinoma, clear cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and small cell carcinoma), stage of the tumor, involvement of vagina, uterine, and parametrium, cervical stroma invasion, mass size, pelvic and abductor lymph node metastasis were extracted from the patient’s data and all were evaluated. The pathology report was considered as the gold standard. Results: Eighty women with cervical cancer were evaluated and the mean age was 47.3 years. There was a statistically significant difference between the different prevalence of disease stages (P-value = 0.035) and also stage diagnosis between the three methods (P-value = 0.0004). The diagnostic accuracy of physical examination and MRI in terms of vaginal involvement, parametrium involvement, and uterine involvement were 97.5% and 98.7%; 98.7% and 96.2%; 94.9% and 93.6%; respectively. Conclusions: Magnetic resonance imaging is a good method for the assessment of the clinical staging of cervical cancer and its accuracy is more than 94% in the diagnosis of different parts of cervical cancer involvement.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Cervical Cancer Stage at Diagnosis: Mediating Effects of Neighborhood-level Socioeconomic Deprivation.

Mortality from cervical cancer has declined steadily in the United States over the past several decades due to widespread screening for precancerous and early-stage cervical cancer (ECC), which are significantly easier to treat compared with late-stage cervical cancer (LCC). Unequal screening access continues to cause significant racial/ethnic disparities in cervical cancer diagnosis stage. This study examined the underlying role of neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage as a potential mediator of the association between race/ethnicity and cervical cancer diagnosis stage. We analyzed Texas Cancer Registry data for cervical cancer cases diagnosed among women ages 18 or older from 2010 to 2018. We performed causal mediation analyses of the association between race/ethnicity and cervical cancer stage at diagnosis mediated by neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage. Of the 9,192 women with cervical cancer, 4,720 (51.3%) had LCC at diagnosis. Compared with non-Hispanic white (NHW) women (106.13, standard deviation (SD) = 13.32), non-Hispanic Black (NHB; 111.46, SD = 9.55) and Hispanic (112.32, SD = 9.42) women had higher area deprivation index (ADI) and had greater odds of LCC diagnosis [total effects: adjusted odds ratios (AOR) = 1.29 (95% CI, 1.11-1.46) and AOR 1.14 (95% CI, 1.03-1.25), respectively]. Approximately 34.7% and 71.6% of the disparity in LCC diagnosis were attributable to higher neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage among NHB and Hispanic women, respectively. LCC disparity varied by race/ethnicity and was partly attributable to neighborhood disadvantage. The disparity among Hispanic women due to neighborhood deprivation was twice as high among NHB women. Findings may be used to develop targeted race- and place-specific interventions to improve cancer care equity.

Our clinical experience in pelvic magnetic resonance imaging with vaginal contrast.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important modality for pelvic imaging. Vaginal distension is provided by the use of vaginal contrast in pelvic MRI, and it plays an important role in staging especially cervical and vaginal cancer. The aim of this study is to show whether the use of vaginal contrast material contributes to the diagnosis in pelvic examination. Between October 1, 2016 and December 30, 2020, a total of 57 patients who underwent pelvic magnetic resonance imaging with vaginal contrast in the radiology clinic were included in the study and evaluated retrospectively. Cervical cancer was detected in 38 of the 57 patients included in the study, and when the vaginal pre- and post-contrast staging of the patients was performed, the pre-contrast stage was found to be high in six patients (15%). Eight of 38 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer underwent surgery. When the pathological and radiological staging of the patients who underwent surgery were compared, they were 100% compatible. The use of vaginal contrast material increases the diagnostic value of MRI in various pelvic pathologies, especially in cervical cancer staging.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Pre-Operative Staging of Cervical Cancer Patients Who Underwent Neoadjuvant Treatment: A Clinical-Surgical-Pathologic Comparison.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proven to ensure high diagnostic accuracy in the identification of vaginal, parametrial, and lymph node involvement in patients affected by cervical cancer (CC), thus playing a crucial role in the preoperative staging of the disease. This study aims to compare the accuracy of MRI for the preoperative staging of patients with CC who underwent neoadjuvant treatment (NAT) or direct surgery. Retrospective data analysis of 126 patients with primary CC International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IB3-IIB who underwent NAT before radical surgery (NAT group = 94) or received surgical treatment alone (control arm = 32) was prospectively performed. All enrolled patients were clinically assessed with both a pelvic examination and MRI before surgical treatment. Data from the clinical examination were compared with the histopathological findings to assess the accuracy of MRI for staging purposes after NAT or before direct surgery. MRI showed an overall accuracy of 46.1%, proving it to be not superior to pelvic and physical examination. The overall MRI accuracy for the evaluation of parametrial, vaginal, and lymph node status was 65.8%, 79.4%, and 79.4%, respectively. In the NAT group, the accuracy for the detection of parametrial, lymph node, and vaginal involvement was lower than the control group; however, the difference was not significant (p ≥ 0.05). The overall accuracy of MRI for the preoperative staging of CC after NAT is shown to be not unsatisfactory. The limits of MRI staging are especially evident when dealing with pre-treated patients.

Barriers to early diagnosis of cervical cancer: a mixed-method study in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa

BackgroundCervical cancer, a major public health problem in many developing countries, is usually associated with a poor survival related to an advanced disease at diagnosis. In Côte d’Ivoire and other developing countries with high cervical cancer prevalence, little is known about factors associated with advanced cervical cancer stages in a context of limited access to screening services.MethodsFrom May to July 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional study using a mixed, quantitative and qualitative method. Information on socio-demographic and history of the disease was extracted from a rapid case ascertainement study performed by the cancer registry of Côte d’Ivoire that enrolled all women diagnosed with cervical cancer between July 2018 and June 2019. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted among a subset of these women (12 women) and six healthcare providers to further capture barriers to early cervical cancer diagnosis. Factors associated with an advanced stage III, IV (according to FIGO classification) were estimated by a logistic regression model. Qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis technique guided by the treatment pathway model and triangulated with quantitative data.ResultsIn total, 95 women with cervical cancer [median age = 51 (IQR 42–59)] years, were included. Among them, 18.9% were living with HIV and only 9.5% were covered by a health insurance. The majority (71.5%) were diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. Being HIV-uninfected (aOR = 5.4; [1.6–17.8], p = 0.006) and being uninsured (aOR = 13.1; [2.0-85.5], p = 0.007) were independently associated with advanced cervical cancer in multivariable analysis. Qualitative data raised additional factors potentially related to advanced cervical cancer stages at diagnosis, including the lack of patient information on cervical cancer by healthcare providers and inadequate national awareness and screening campaigns.ConclusionIn a context of challenges in access to systematic cervical cancer screening in Côte d’Ivoire, access to health insurance or integrated healthcare program appear to be key determinants of early diagnosis of cervical cancer.