Stefania Rizzo

Radiomics in cervical and endometrial cancer

Radiomics is an emerging field of research that aims to find associations between quantitative information extracted from imaging examinations and clinical data to support the best clinical decision. In the last few years, some papers have been evaluating the role of radiomics in gynecological malignancies, mainly focusing on ovarian cancer. Nonetheless, cervical cancer is the most frequent gynecological malignancy in developing countries and endometrial cancer is the most common in western countries. The purpose of this narrative review is to give an overview of the latest published papers evaluating the role of radiomics in cervical and endometrial cancer, mostly evaluating association with tumor prognostic factors, with response to therapy and with prediction of recurrence and distant metastasis.

Imaging before cytoreductive surgery in advanced ovarian cancer patients

Appropriate and accurate pre-operative imaging in epithelial ovarian cancer patients may allow selection of patients that may mostly benefit either from primary cytoreductive surgery or from neoadjuvant chemotherapy. If the patient is considered suitable for upfront surgery, pre-operative imaging may help in planning the surgical approach, to forecast the operating time, and to estimate the need for other consulting specialists. Currently, computed tomography (CT) imaging is the standard of care for pre-operative evaluation of ovarian cancer patients; however, advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is emerging as a technique that may overcome the limitations of CT imaging, especially for small peritoneal deposits in difficult-to-resect sites. Positron emission tomography (PET)-CT imaging in the pre-operative setting is currently limited, whereas the use of the new hybrid technique PET-MRI is still under evaluation. Since criteria that may preclude optimal cytoreductive surgery may vary, depending on the aggressiveness of the surgical procedure and surgeon skill, multidisciplinary consensus conferences are the ideal platform to evaluate extent of the disease and surgical strategy.