PET scans not wholly effective in identifying lymph nodes with cervical cancer

DR. PAUL DISILVESTRO, head of research at Women & Infants Hospital's oncology research division, contributed to a study that questions the effectiveness of PET scans in identifying cervical cancer in lymph nodes. / COURTESY WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL
DR. PAUL DISILVESTRO, head of research at Women & Infants Hospital's oncology research division, contributed to a study that questions the effectiveness of PET scans in identifying cervical cancer in lymph nodes. / COURTESY WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL

PROVIDENCE – Notwithstanding the popularity of positron emission tomography scans, they are not effective in discovering cervical cancer in lymph nodes, according to research recently published by a team of oncologists, including one physician from Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.

Researchers compared the effectiveness of computed tomography scans alone and combined with PET scans to identify cervical cancer in the lymph nodes of more than 150 women. Their study, titled “Utility of PET-CT to Evaluate Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Metastasis in Advanced Cervical Cancer: Results of ACRIN6671/GOG0233 Trial,” was published recently in the trade journal Gynecologic Oncology.

“What we found is that the combination of CT and PET scans is only 50 percent effective if the cancer is located in the lymph nodes in the patient’s abdomen,” Dr. Paul DiSilvestro, interim chief of the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants and head of the program’s research division, said in a statement. “We feel that the PET scan doesn’t add anything.”

Women & Infants was one of the lead enrolling facilities for this study, which DiSilvestro, also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said underscores the need for physicians to assess each situation before recommending screening or treatment.

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“Often, advanced technology doesn’t provide the best information,” he said. “Our job is to combine our clinical diagnostic strategizing skills with the new technology to help create the best treatment regimen for our patients.”

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