Objectives: This retrospective study aimed to compare the performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in staging surgically treated early-stage cervical cancer.
Methods: Patients with surgically treated cervical carcinoma confirmed by post-operative pathological findings were included between December 2016 and December 2018. All included patients underwent both CEUS and MRI examinations before the surgery. Post-operative pathology was used as the gold standard. The κ values were calculated to assess the agreements of CEUS and MRI in staging cervical carcinoma in comparison with post-operative pathology.
Results: Complete data were available for 39 patients. CEUS showed great inter-observer reproducibility in tumor measurement [Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) 0.831] and moderate inter-observer reproducibility in the evaluation of vaginal infiltration and parametrial invasion (Cohen's κ 0.692 and 0.624). Tumor size was comparable as measured by CEUS and MRI (ICC 0.769). Both CEUS and MRI presented good concordance with post-operative pathology in staging cervical cancer (weighted κ 0.732 and 0.761).
Conclusion: CEUS was comparable to MRI in staging surgically treated cervical cancer and might be considered in the pre-treatment work-up for cervical cancer.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Contrast media; Magnetic resonance imaging; Ultrasonography.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.