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BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to prospectively analyze the diagnostic performances of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in predicting pathologically assessed residual disease in a large, single-institution series of locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients triaged to neoadjuvant treatments followed by radical surgery. METHODS: Between April 2007 and March 2010, 96 patients with histologically documented cervical cancer (any histology) and FIGO stage IB2-IVA were enrolled. MRI and PET/CT were recommended to be performed within 4-6 weeks from the end of treatment, and histology was the reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were compared using the McNemar test. RESULTS: For residual disease in the cervix, sensitivity was higher for MRI than for PET/CT (86.1% vs 63.1%; P = .002), while specificity was significantly higher for PET/CT compared with MRI ( P = .002). There was no difference in accuracy values between the 2 imaging modalities. For MRI analysis of lymph node groups, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 35.7%, 95.9%, and 88.0%, respectively. Conversely, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for PET/CT were 28.6%, 97.8%, and 88.7%, respectively. Absence of follicular structures replaced by prevalent sclerosis and/or sinus histiocytosis was the most frequently documented morphological pattern in false-positive cases. CONCLUSION: Neither MRI nor PET/CT accurately detected residual disease in LACC patients triaged to radical surgery after neoadjuvant treatment, disallowing the option of avoiding or modulating completion surgery. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the findings of a study, which determined whether a greater extension of the insular component (IC) influences different clinical and histologic features at diagnosis, and a different tumor aggressiveness in terms of frequency in the occurrence of metastases and survival. First described in 1984, insular thyroid carcinoma refers to a characteristic appearance consisting of nests or insulae of tumor cells with round dark and monomorphic nuclei and scant cytoplasm.