Clinical results of lymphography in cancer of the uterine cervix. A retrospective study of 542 consecutive, unselected patients

Tumori. 1978 Jul-Aug;64(4):429-36. doi: 10.1177/030089167806400410.

Abstract

From 1961 to 1976, 542 patients were evaluated with foot lymphography for cancer of the cervix at the Istituto Nationale Tumori of Milan. A group of 341 patients had lymphangiography as part of the initial diagnostic work-up. The overall incidence of positive examinations was 25% (9% stage I, 29% stage II, 46% stage III, 50% stage IV). In the 115 patients who had pelvic surgery the overall diagnostic accuracy of lymphography was 88%, with 2 false positive and 12 false negative reports. A second group of 90 patients was evaluated in the follow-up without clinical evidence of disease, and the incidence of metastases was 17%. Finally, group of 111 patients was studied for recurrence, and in this group the incidence of metastases was 51%. As regards site of involvement, the external iliac chains were involved in 93 to 96% of the cases, the common iliac in 34 to 79%, and the para-aortic in 17 to 36% in the different clinical conditions. The highest incidence of para-aortic metastases was found in the clinically initial stages (I and II) and in the recurrences. The lymphographic involvement of the retroperitoneal nodes was usually limited to a single region (41%) or two regions (37%). Only in 22% of the positive cases was a diffuse involvement of the retroperitoneal node chains evident.

MeSH terms

  • False Negative Reactions
  • False Positive Reactions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lymphatic Metastasis / diagnostic imaging*
  • Lymphography*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology*