Imaging in cervix cancer
02 Nov 2017
Imaging plays a crucial role in the management of women with cervical cancer. Stage of disease has a profound effect on the treatment options available and the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has improved staging accuracy.
MRI is routinely used in the assessment of women with cervix cancer for staging the primary tumour, assessing prognostic factors such as tumour size and lymph node status and triaging patients to surgical or non-surgical management.
Its high negative predictive value for parametrial invasion makes it useful for selecting surgical candidates. The limitations of MRI in assessing nodal disease have been helped by the addition of PET/CT to the assessment of patients with advanced cervix cancer and this has improved detection of nodal metastases.
The positive predictive value of PET/CT is high enough to modify treatment strategy. In patients undergoing non-surgical management with chemo-radiotherapy, MRI guided intracavitary brachytherapy allows accurate delineation of residual tumour volumes. Imaging is also vital post primary therapy to assess treatment response, suspected relapse and the development of complications.
Educational aims:
• To appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of MRI in the assessment of cervix cancer
• To understand where and when MRI has a role in patient management
Learning objectives:
• To show what cervix cancer looks like on MRI
• To review how to stage disease on MRI
• To highlight what MR findings influence management decision making
0.5 CPD credit
Watch the video and complete the online self-reflection form. Go to "My events" to download your certificate. You must login to watch the video and receive CPD.
MRI is routinely used in the assessment of women with cervix cancer for staging the primary tumour, assessing prognostic factors such as tumour size and lymph node status and triaging patients to surgical or non-surgical management.
Its high negative predictive value for parametrial invasion makes it useful for selecting surgical candidates. The limitations of MRI in assessing nodal disease have been helped by the addition of PET/CT to the assessment of patients with advanced cervix cancer and this has improved detection of nodal metastases.
The positive predictive value of PET/CT is high enough to modify treatment strategy. In patients undergoing non-surgical management with chemo-radiotherapy, MRI guided intracavitary brachytherapy allows accurate delineation of residual tumour volumes. Imaging is also vital post primary therapy to assess treatment response, suspected relapse and the development of complications.
Educational aims:
• To appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of MRI in the assessment of cervix cancer
• To understand where and when MRI has a role in patient management
Learning objectives:
• To show what cervix cancer looks like on MRI
• To review how to stage disease on MRI
• To highlight what MR findings influence management decision making
0.5 CPD credit
Watch the video and complete the online self-reflection form. Go to "My events" to download your certificate. You must login to watch the video and receive CPD.
Duration:20 mins
Speaker info
Dr Sarah Swift, St James’s Hospital, Leeds
After medical school training in Cambridge and at Barts followed by medical jobs in London, Sarah moved back to Yorkshire for training in Radiology training in Leeds, winning the Gold Medal for the final FRCR examination in 1997. She was appointed as a consultant to Cookridge Hospital in 1999 before moving to St James’s University Hospital in 2008. Sarah has spoken at numerous conferences in UK and abroad including for ESTRO where she was a member of the teaching faculty.