PREOPERATIVE STAGING OF CERVICAL-CARCINOMA - PHASED-ARRAY COIL FAST SPIN-ECHO VERSUS BODY COIL SPIN-ECHO T2-WEIGHTED MR-IMAGING

OBJECTIVE. This study was performed to compare the diagnostic efficacy of MR imaging in the preoperative evaluation of invasive cervical can cer using the pelvic phased array coil in combination with fast spin-e cho T2-weighted imaging and the body coil in combination with conventi onal spin-echo T2-weighted imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Ninety-four women (22-68 years old) with invasive cervical cancer underwent MR im aging (at 1.5 T) using a body coil conventional spin-echo protocol (n = 62) or a phased array coil fast spin-echo protocol (n = 32). Imaging preceded surgery by no more than 5 weeks. MR images were evaluated fo r tumor size, local stage, and nodal metastasis using surgical patholo gy as the standard of reference. RESULTS. Overall staging accuracy for the body coil conventional spin-echo protocol (89%) was not significa ntly different from that of the phased array coil fast spin-echo proto col (91%). Both techniques also achieved similar accuracy in diagnosin g parametrial invasion (95% versus 94%) and lymph node metastases (85% versus 91%) and in tumor sizing (correlation coefficient, .93 versus .94), CONCLUSION. In the preoperative staging of cervical carcinoma by MR imaging, both the newer (phased array coil fast spin-echo protocol ) and the older (body coil conventional spin-echo protocol) techniques achieved similarly high accuracies in local staging, assessment of pa rametrial invasion, and evaluation of tumor size. Decreased imaging ti me and increased image resolution are advantages of the newer techniqu e, although in our series they did not increase staging accuracy.