Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2004 Dec;47(12):2373-2379.

Study of the Disease Free Intervals of the Patients with No Evidence of Disease by FDG-PET after Treatment and the Feasibility of FDG-PET as Follow up method

• Park CS
• Kang JJ
• Shin HR
• Kim MI
• Kim MH
• Chun KJ
• Kim SE
• Kim BJ
• Choi SC
• Ryu SY
• Lee ED
• Lee KH

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed to investigate the disease free interval and feasibility of FDG-PET for following up the patients with no evidence of cervical cancer after primary treatment.
METHODS
From May, 1998 to February, 2003, 406 patients with no evidence of cervical cancer by FDG-PET were investigated retrospectively. They underwent primary treatment and FDG-PET between 3 to 16 months after treatment. All of them were monitored closely after FDG-PET scanning.
RESULTS
Of the 406 patients with no evidence of cervical cancer by FDG-PET after treatment, recurrence was detected in 17 patients. The recurrence sites were lymph nodes (7), lung (6), liver (1), central lesion (1) and others (2). The Mean disease free interval (DFI) in patients with No evidence of disease (NED) was 27 months, DFI with recurrence was 35 months, and the mean DFI in all patients were 28 months (p=0.051). FIGO stage, initial tumor size, status of lymph node metastasis and cell type had no effect on the recurrence rate of NED patients by FDG-PET. Our study also shows high false positive rate and low sensitivity in the conventional imaging and tumor marker.
CONCLUSION
The FDG-PET is proved to be a useful imaging study for following up cervical cancer patients after primary treatment. If there is no evidence of disease by the first FDG-PET after primary treatment, we can expect the average disease free interval to be about 28 months. And it is suggested that the patients should undergo the FDG-PET every one or two years to detect possible early recurrence.

Keyword

Cervical cancer; DFI; FDG-PET; Recurrence

MeSH Terms

Follow-Up Studies*
Humans
Liver
Lung
Lymph Nodes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms