CT of the normal and abnormal parametria in cervical cancer

To evaluate CT criteria for differentiating a cervical cancer confined to the cervix from a lesion that invades the parametria, 16 patients with newly diagnosed, untreated cervical cancer were studied with CT. Twenty-five parameria were confined by radical hysterectomy, transvaginal parametrial fine-needle aspiration cytology, or excretory urography. In 17 tumor-positive parametria, CT findings associated with parametrial tumor invasion were: 1) irregularity or poor definition of the lateral cervical margins; 2) prominent parametrial soft-tissue strands; 3) obliteration of the periureteral fat plane; and 4) an eccentric parametrial soft-tissue mass. Irregularity of the cervical margins and prominent parametrial strands were seen most commonly with parametrial tumor invasion, but were also occasionally seen with parametrial inflammation. On the basis of the criteria developed in this report, CT may be used as an adjunct to the physical examination in differentiating stage I cervical cancer from more advanced disease in selected patients