Objectives: We aimed to evaluate if the revised staging according to FIGO-2018 in early-stage cervical cancer correctly predicts the risk for nodal metastases.
Methods: We reallocated 245 women with early-stage cervical cancer from FIGO-2009 to FIGO-2018 stages using data from a national, prospective cohort study on sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping. We used univariate and multivariate binary regression models to investigate the association between FIGO-2018 stages, tumor characteristics, and nodal metastases.
Results: Stage migration occurred in 54.7% (134/245) (95% CI 48.2-61.0), due to tumor size or depth of invasion (71.6%, 96/134) and nodal metastases (28.4%, 38/134). Imaging preoperatively upstaged 7.3% (18/245); seven had nodal metastatic disease on final pathology. Upstaging occurred in 49.8% (122/245) (95% CI 43.4-56.2%) and downstaging to FIGO-2018 IA stages in 4.9% (12/245) (95% CI 2.6-8.4). The tumor size ranged from 3.0-19.0 mm in women with FIGO-2018 IA tumor characteristics, and none of the 14 women had nodal metastases. In multivariate analysis, risk factors significantly associated with nodal metastases were FIGO-2018 ≥ IB2 (RR 5.01, 95% CI 2.30-10.93, p < 0.001), proportionate depth of invasion >2/3 (RR 1.88, 95% CI 1.05-3.35, p = 0.033), and lymphovascular space invasion (RR 5.56, 95% CI 2.92-10.62, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: The FIGO-2018 revised staging system causes stage migration for a large proportion of women with early-stage cervical cancer. Women who were downstaged to FIGO-2018 IA stages did not have nodal metastatic disease. The attention on depth of invasion rather than horizontal dimension seems to correctly reflect the risk of nodal metastases.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; FDG-PET/CT imaging; FIGO-2018 staging; Lymph node metastases; Minimally invasive surgery; Sentinel lymph node mapping.
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