6 Magnetic resonance imaging in clinical cervical cancer: pretherapeutic tumour volumetry

Summary MRI can define the spread, size, and volume of clinical cervical cancers. Appropriate pulse sequences and slice thicknesses are necessary. Twenty-five patients underwent MRI tumour volumetry before radical hysterectomy. The volume obtained by MRI was compared with that obtained from the histological giant sections; the volumes agreed at a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.983. The volumes obtained by MRI of 13 unfixed surgical specimens correlated with their histological volumes with a statistically significant coefficient of 0.894. Tumour volumes were compared with the respective clinical stages. Clinical stage did not correlate with tumour volume. Three very large tumours were in clinical Stage Ib. Tumour size is a major prognostic factor, can be measured easily, and, as the basis for classification, is superior to FIGO staging. MRI can measure tumour volume before treatment.