No Value for Routine Chest Radiography in the Work-Up of Early Stage Cervical Cancer Patients

Characterizing and quantifying low-value diagnostic imaging internationally: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Inappropriate and wasteful use of health care resources is a common problem, constituting 10-34% of health services spending in the western world. Even though diagnostic imaging is vital for identifying correct diagnoses and administrating the right treatment, low-value imaging-in which the diagnostic test confers little to no clinical benefit-is common and contributes to inappropriate and wasteful use of health care resources. There is a lack of knowledge on the types and extent of low-value imaging. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to identify, characterize, and quantify the extent of low-value diagnostic imaging examinations for adults and children.

METHODS

A scoping review of the published literature was performed. Medline-Ovid, Embase-Ovid, Scopus, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies published from 2010 to September 2020. The search strategy was built from medical subject headings (Mesh) for Diagnostic imaging/Radiology OR Health service misuse/Medical overuse OR Procedures and Techniques Utilization/Facilities and Services Utilization. Articles in English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian were included.

RESULTS

A total of 39,986 records were identified and, of these, 370 studies were included in the final synthesis. Eighty-four low-value imaging examinations were identified. Imaging of atraumatic pain, routine imaging in minor head injury, trauma, thrombosis, urolithiasis, after thoracic interventions, fracture follow-up and cancer staging/follow-up were the most frequently identified low-value imaging examinations. The proportion of low-value imaging varied between 2 and 100% inappropriate or unnecessary examinations.

CONCLUSIONS

A comprehensive list of identified low-value radiological examinations for both adults and children are presented. Future research should focus on reasons for low-value imaging utilization and interventions to reduce the use of low-value imaging internationally.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

PROSPERO: CRD42020208072.

Low incidence of pulmonary metastases in vulvar cancer patients: limited value of routine chest imaging based on a cohort study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the incidence of pulmonary metastases in the preoperative work-up of patients with primary vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Tertiary referral centre.

POPULATION

Patients treated for primary vulvar SCC from 2000 to 2018.

METHODS

The pre-operative chest imaging of 452 consecutively treated patients was documented with a minimal follow-up period of 2 years.

MEAN OUTCOME MEASURES

Incidence of pulmonary metastases, frequency of chest imaging and subsequent coincidental findings.

RESULTS

In total, 80.8% of patients underwent pre-operative chest imaging. Seven patients (1.9%), with a median tumour size of 80 mm, presented with pulmonary metastases. None of the patients with early stage disease and tumour size <40 mm who underwent radical local excision (RLE) with sentinel node (SN)-procedure, was diagnosed with pulmonary metastasis. Chest imaging was performed by radiography (58.9%) and computerised tomography (CT) (41.1%). Coincidental findings were reported in 40.7% of patients who underwent CT, compared with 15.8% of patients undergoing radiography, resulting in additional diagnostics in 14.7 and 19.7% and being of limited consequence for outcome in 2.9 and 3.3%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of pulmonary metastases in patients with primary vulvar SCC is extremely low, and none in patients with early stage disease undergoing the SN procedure. Chest imaging was performed in the majority of patients and was associated with frequent coincidental findings leading to clinically irrelevant diagnostic procedures. Therefore, we recommend omitting chest imaging in patients with early stage disease and tumours <40 mm, considering chest CT only in patients with large tumours and/or advanced stage disease.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

The incidence of pulmonary metastases is 1.9%, none in early stage disease planned for SN. Omitting chest imaging in this group is advised.

Staging early cervical cancer in China: data from a multicenter collaborative

BACKGROUND

In 2018 the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) revised the staging system of cervical cancer. This study aimed to assess the quality of staging early cervical cancer in China before the revision.

METHODS

This multicenter retrospective study included 34 tertiary hospitals in China. Medical records of patients with cervical cancer who underwent primary surgical treatment between January 2010 and December 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. All patients were clinically staged according to the 2009 FIGO staging system. Eligibility criteria included: histopathologically confirmed cervical cancer; 2009 FIGO stage IA-IIA2 based on 2009 FIGO staging system; primary surgical treatment including extrafascial, type II or type III radical hysterectomy; radical trachelectomy; with or without pelvic lymphadenectomy; regardless of surgical route via laparotomy or laparoscopy; and complete clinical and pathological data. Patients who received non-surgical treatment, neoadjuvant treatment, or those with incomplete data were excluded. The accuracy of clinical staging was assessed by comparison between clinical and pathologic stage using the latter as the reference standard.

RESULTS

A total of 23 933 cases of cervical cancer were identified and 12 681 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these patients, 69.6% were staged accurately, 9.4% were clinically understaged, and 21.0% were clinically overstaged. The accuracy of stage IA, IB1, IB2, IIA1, and IIA2 was 90.0%, 87.5%, 57.4%, 20.3%, and 25.5%, respectively. The causes of stage inaccuracy were as follows: vaginal involvement (62.3%), maximal tumor diameter (24.6%), extent of cervical stromal invasion (7.1%), parametrial invasion (5.8%), bladder or rectal infiltration (0.1%), and distant metastases (0.1%).

CONCLUSION

The accuracy of staging early cervical cancer in China was suboptimal before the revision of the staging system, especially for IIA1 and IIA2. The most common reasons for staging inaccuracy were vaginal involvement and tumor diameter.

Frequency and risk factors of thoracic metastases and optimisation of the use of cross-sectional chest imaging in follow-up patients with cervical cancer

AIM

To optimise cross-sectional chest imaging usage by identifying frequency and risk factors associated with thoracic metastases in cervical cancer patients after initial definitive treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study, conducted during 2004-2015, examined 361 consecutive patients with histopathologically proven cervical carcinoma with at least 1 year of follow-up. Electronic medical records and all available imaging modes were used to record and assess patient and tumour characteristics and timing of thoracic metastases. Associations with these characteristics and thoracic metastases were assessed using univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazards modelling.

RESULTS

Of the 361 patients, 31 developed thoracic metastases. Multivariate regression results showed that adeno/adenosquamous carcinomas (hazard ratio [HR], 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 5.72), other histology (HR, 5.61; 95% CI, 1.81 to 17.42), high International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (HR, 2.84; 95% CI, 1.09 to 7.37), and presence of initial intra-abdominal lymph node metastases (HR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.02 to 5.90) were associated significantly and independently with thoracic metastases. The second analysis among the subgroup of surgical treatment identified intermediate-high risk classification of recurrence (HR, 5.12; 95% CI, 1.14 to 22.94), high FIGO stage (HR, 2.73; 95% CI, 1.05 to 7.13), and other histology (HR, 11.51; 95% CI, 3.66 to 36.19) as independent predictors of thoracic metastases. Two of the 361 and 2/313 patients with thoracic metastases who did not correspond to the conditions above were in the respective evaluation groups.

CONCLUSION

Assessment of negative prognostic factors for thoracic metastases might contribute to reduced need for chest cross-sectional chest computed tomography examinations.