Applied Value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Clinical Stage of Cervical Cancer

Objective To evaluate applied value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the clinical stage of cervical cancer. Methods From September 2009 to September 2011, a total of 92 cases (29- to 82-year-old) of cervical cancer with completely clinical data were included into this study. The results of MRI before surgery were analyzed. Among those 92 cases, 73 of them received selective radical hysterectomy + pelvic lymph node dissection. The pathological and MRI results were compared. Informed consent was obtained from all participates. Results MRI could show the cervical cancer in all cases with the exception of only 2 cases of ⅠA stage. Positive rate was 97.8%(90/92). The tumor was represented by isointensity and hypo intensity on T1-weighted MR images and hyper intensity on T2-weighted MR images. After bolus intravenous GD-DTPA injection, varied enhancement presented in 81 cases, the tumor was hyper intensity on DWI. The cervical stoma of 49 cases showed incompletely, 43 cases completely. A total of 21 cases of enlarged pelvic node were well shown. MRI had an accuracy of 85.9% in clinical stage diagnosis. The negative predictive value of parametrical invasion, vaginal invasion, metastasis of lymph nodes and cervical cannel invasion for MRI were 95.3%, 98.2%, 93.1%, 78.3%, respectively. The specificity were 93.8%, 83.6%, 84.4%, 90.4%, respectively. The sensitivity were 62.5%, 83.3%, 55.6%, 38.1%, respectively. Conclusions MRI can show the location, size, signal characteristics, extension of the primary tumor and parametrical tissue. MRI plays a very useful role in identifying the stages of cervical cancer, especially for invasive carcinoma. MRI can be used as the first choice method for clinical stage of cervical cancer. Key words: cervical carcinoma; clinical stage; neoplasm invasiveness; magnetic resonance imaging