TRANSVAGINAL COLOR DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY IN PREDICTING THE RESPONSE TO CHEMOTHERAPY IN ADVANCED CERVICAL-CANCER

The role of Doppler ultrasonography in the diagnosis of advanced cervi cal cancer continues to be controversial. This study was designed to a ssess the clinical value of the technique in terms of predicting the r esponse to chemotherapy in patients with advanced cervical cancer. Twe nty-three patients with cancer of the cervix (FIGO stages Ib bulky-III b) and 20 healthy women underwent transvaginal color Doppler assessmen t of the uterine arteries (both ascending and descending branches) and the intracervical vessels. Statistical analysis was performed by Stud ent's t test for paired and unpaired data. The intracervical vessels w ere the only site to show significant differences both in the resistan ce and in velocity parameters. A subgroup of 14 patients, scheduled fo r neoadjuvant chemotherapy, were evaluated before and at the completio n of treatment. A significant increase in resistance and pulsatility i ndex values and a decrease in peak systolic velocity were observed in the ten patients who responded to chemotherapy. Preliminary results of our study suggest that Doppler parameters can be clinically useful in the evaluation of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. More pati ents, sampled in a prospective way in order to increase the number of non-responders, would be necessary to assess the possible role of Dopp ler ultrasound in predicting which patients will respond to chemothera py.