Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound for monitoring the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in advanced cervical cancer

Background. To evaluate the role of transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound in monitoring the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally-advanced cervical cancer. Methods. Fourteen patients with locally-advanced cervical cancer, scheduled for neoadjuvant chemotherapy, were investigated with transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography before and at the completion of chemotherapy in order to study hemodynamic changes in cervical and intratumoral vessels. Twenty healthy women matched for age and parity served as a control group. Statistical analysis was performed with Student’s t test for paired data. Results. Statistically different blood flow recording between patients with cervical cancer and healthy controls could be observed only in intratumoral vessels. A significant increase of RI and PI values, recorded in both cervical artery and intratumoral vessels, have been observed in the group of patients responding to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In patients with stable disease at the completion ...