Efficacy of mri in diagnosis, staging, and treatment response assessment of carcinoma cervix: a comprehensive study

Cervical carcinoma is the most common form of female genital cancer in India, accounting for 86-90% of cases. Proper evaluation of disease spread and staging is crucial for managing cervical cancer effectively. Previous staging methods, including cystoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and pelvic examinations, provided insufficient data. MRI, in conjunction with CT, has become the preferred imaging technique for clinical staging of cervical cancer. A study was conducted to assess the accuracy of MRI in detecting and grading cervical cancer. The study included 90 newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed cases of uterine cervical carcinoma, all of which had received chemoradiotherapy prior to the study. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system was used to assess the tumors via MRI, which was performed using a 1.5 Tesla magnet. In newly diagnosed cases, suspicious masses were observed in 86.84% of cases, while recurrent cancer cases showed these masses in 80.7%. Diagnostic accuracy in new cases reached 89.82%, with sensitivity at 90.20%, specificity at 18%, positive predictive value (PPV) at 93.14%, and negative predictive value (NPV) at 95.45%. For recurrent cases, diagnostic accuracy was 68.54%, with sensitivity at 91%, specificity at 42%, PPV at 72.36%, and NPV at 76%. MR imaging provided superior results in tumor staging, disease extent evaluation, and treatment response compared to clinical examination.