Pelvic lymph node status assessed by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography predicts low-risk group for distant recurrence in locally advanced cervical cancer: a prospective study.

PURPOSE: To develop a prediction model to identify a low-risk group for distant recurrence in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated by concurrent chemoradiation. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Prospectively, 62 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer were recruited as a training cohort. Clinical variables and parameters obtained from positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging were analyzed by logistic regression. For the test set, 54 patients were recruited independently. To identify the low-risk group, negative likelihood ratio (LR) less than 0.2 was set to be a cutoff. RESULTS: Among the training cohort, multivariate logistic analysis revealed that advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and a high serum squamous cancer cell (SCC) antigen level were significant risk factors (p=0.015 and 0.025, respectively). Using the two parameters, criteria to determine a low-risk subset for distant recurrence were postulated: (1) FIGO Stage IIB or less and (2) pretreatment SCC<2.4 (Model A). Positive pelvic node on PET completely predicted all cases with distant recurrence and thus was considered as another prediction model (Model B). In the test cohort, although Model A did not showed diagnostic performance, Model B completely predicted all cases with distant recurrence and showed a sensitivity of 100% with negative LR of 0. Across the training and test cohort (n=116), the false negative rate was 0 (95% confidence interval 0%-7.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Positive pelvic node on PET is a useful marker in prediction of distant recurrence in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who are treated with concurrent chemoradiation.

Prognostic factors of secondary cytoreductive surgery for patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the prognostic factors of secondary cytoreductive surgery on survival in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODS: The medical records of all patients who underwent secondary cytoreductive surgery between May 2001 and October 2007 at the National Cancer Center, Korea were reviewed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were executed to evaluate the potential variables for overall survival. RESULTS: In total, 54 patients met the inclusion criteria. Optimal cytoreduction to <0.5 cm residual disease was achieved in 87% of patients who had received secondary cytoreductive surgery. Univariate analysis revealed that site of recurrence (median survival, 53 months for the largest tumors in the pelvis vs. 24 months for the largest tumors except for the pelvis; p=0.007), progression free survival (PFS) (median survival, 43 months for PFS>/=12 months vs. 24 months for PFS<12 months; p=0.036), and number of recurrence sites (median survival, 49 months for single recurred tumor vs 29 months for multiple recurred tumors; p=0.036) were significantly associated with overall survival. On multivariate analysis, prognostic factors that correlated with improved survival were site of recurrence (p=0.013), and PFS (p=0.043). CONCLUSION: In the author's analysis, a significant survival benefit was identified for the recurred largest tumors within the pelvis and PFS>/=12 months. Secondary cytoreductive surgery should be offered in selected patients and large prospective studies are needed to define the selection criteria for secondary cytoreductive surgery.