Impact of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography in the management of cervical cancer

Purpose: To evaluate the potential role of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound, and to assess its diagnostic performance and ability to predict therapeutic efficacy in cervical cancer. Methods: Thirty patients with cervical cancer and 35 normal controls were studied by transvaginal 3D power Doppler ultrasound before treatment. Eleven patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n = 6), radiation (n = 3), or chemoradiation (n = 2), had further measurements taken one month and two months after treatment. Results: From the receiving operating characteristics curve analysis, the best vascularization index (VI) cutoff value of 5.24 distinguished cervical cancer from the normal cervix, with a sensitivity of 73.3% and a specificity of 94.3%. Cervical tumor volume measured by magnetic resonance imaging was positively correlated with the tumor volume measured by 3D ultrasonography (r = 0.91, p < 0.0001). In six patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the percent change in tumor volume during the second month of treatment was positively correlated with the percent change in flow index (FI) during the first month of treatment (r = 0.83, p < 0.05). Conclusions: VI may be a diagnostic marker and FI may be a predictive marker of treatment response in cervical cancer.

Uterine cervical cancer; Three-dimensional imaging; Ultrasonography; Doppler ultrasound; Neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

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