Decision-analytic model guides cervical cancer treatment

March 25, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Decision-analytic model guides cervical cancer treatment By Rebekah Moan MRI and/or PET/CT can help physicians determine appropriate treatment for cervical cancer patients as well as prevent unnecessary therapy, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Treatment of patients with cervical cancer involves two options. The first is surgery with or without postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation (chemotherapy and radiation therapy). The second is primary chemoradiation. One problem, however, is overtreatment. Overtreatment has not been studied well in the literature and should become a factor in deciding how to stage patients up front, said lead author Dr. Pari Pandharipande from the Institute for Technology Assessment and Massachusetts General Hospital. In their decision-analytic model, the researchers found that PET/CT performed better than MRI across all outcomes as a stand-alone strategy. It was preferred to other strategies for triaging patients to the correct primary therapy (AJR 2009;192:802-814).

See full article and related articles at DiagnosticImaging.com
This article was republished with permission from CMPMedica, LLC