Assessing the Efficacy of 18F FDG PET-CT in Preoperative Staging of Early-Stage Cervical Cancer in Novi Sad, Serbia—A Pilot Study

<b>Background and Objectives</b>: This study primarily aims to evaluate the preoperative staging effectiveness of PET-CT in early-stage cervical cancer, particularly, its ability to detect primary tumors and micrometastases. <b>Materials and Methods</b>: In this retrospective study, cervical cancer patients who had undergone preoperative 18F FDG PET-CT scans and were treated at the Department of Gynecology, Institute of Oncology, Vojvodina, in Sremska Kamenica, during the period from 2016 to 2020 were analyzed. <b>Results</b>: The study included 62 patients (mean age, 49.3 ± 9.6 years). Squamous cell carcinoma was the predominant histological type (95.2%), with G2 differentiation (82.3%) and FIGO stage Ib1 (80.6%) being the most common. Assessed by 18F FDG PET-CT, the mean tumor size was 26.4 ± 10.8 mm, which is slightly lower than the 26.9 mm measured during clinical examination (<i>p</i> = 0.784), with a significant (r = 0.678, <i>p</i> < 0.001) correlation between these methods. 18F FDG PET-CT demonstrated an overall accuracy of 88.7% for identifying primary tumors, with a sensitivity of 86.8%, specificity of 100.0%, PPV of 100.0%, and NPV of 56.2%. An intraoperative examination showed identical overall accuracy but higher sensitivity (98.1%) and lower specificity (33.3%). For 18F FDG PET-CT, the level of agreement with the histopathological examination was good (Kappa 0.656), while for the intraoperative examination, it was moderate (Kappa 0.409). Regarding the lymph node assessment, 18F FDG PET-CT's accuracy was 82.2%, with a sensitivity of 53.8% and a specificity of 89.8%. The intraoperative examination showed lower accuracy (66.1%) but higher sensitivity (76.9%). The 18F FDG PET-CT Kappa value indicated moderate agreement (0.449), while the intraoperative examination showed poor agreement (0.282). <b>Conclusions</b>: In conclusion, significant effectiveness is shown by 18F FDG PET-CT for preoperative staging of early-stage cervical cancer, offering superior accuracy in detecting primary tumors and micrometastases, particularly in predicting lymph node metastases, thereby enhancing diagnostic accuracy and informing treatment decisions.