Treatment Strategies Guided by 18FFDG-PET/CT in Patients with Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer and 18FFDG-Positive Lymph Nodes

Modern treatment guidelines for women with advanced cervical cancer recommend staging using 2-deoxy-2-18Ffluoro-D-glucose positron emission computed tomography (18FFDG-PET/CT). However, the risk of false-positive nodes and therapy-related adverse events requires caution in treatment planning. Using data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR), we estimated the impact of 18FFDG-PET/CT on treatment management in women with locally advanced cervical cancer, i.e., on nodal boosting, field extension, and/or debulking in cases of suspected lymph nodes. Women diagnosed between 2009 and 2017, who received chemoradiotherapy for International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (2009) stage IB2, IIA2-IVB cervical cancer with an 18FFDG-positive node, were retrospectively selected from the NCR database. Patients with pathological nodal examination before treatment were excluded. The frequency of nodal boosting, extended-field radiotherapy, and debulking procedures applied to patients with 18FFDG-positive lymph nodes was evaluated. Among the 434 eligible patients with 18FFDG-positive nodes, 380 (88%) received interventions targeting these lymph nodes: 84% of these 380 patients received nodal boosting, 78% extended-field radiotherapy, and 12% debulking surgery. 18FFDG-positive nodes in patients receiving these treatments were more likely to be classified as suspicious than inconclusive (p = 0.009), located in the para-aortic region (p < 0.001), and larger (p < 0.001) than in patients who did not receive these treatments. While existing guidelines advocate 18FFDG-PET/CT-guided treatment planning for the management of advanced cervical cancer, this study highlights that not all cases of 18FFDG-positive nodes received an intervention, possibly due to the risk of false-positive results. Improvement of nodal staging may reduce suboptimal treatment planning.