Essential roles of surgical and pathological evaluations in the management of foreign bodies or inflammatory granulomas mimicking cervical cancer recurrence: A report of two cases

OBJECTIVE:Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) is an effective modality for evaluating cervical cancer recurrence. We present two cases of suspected recurrent cervical cancer on PET/CT that were pathologically proven to be granulomas. CASE REPORT:Case 1: A 54-year-old woman with FIGO (2009) stage IB1 cervical cancer underwent radical hysterectomy and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Case 2: A 44-year-old woman with FIGO (2009) stage IB2 cervical cancer underwent incidental simple hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenopathy and adjuvant concurrent cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy. Both patients had peritoneal or pelvic masses with increased 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake on PET/CT after 3 years. These masses were finally pathologically proven to be foreign bodies or inflammatory granulomas with abscess, respectively. CONCLUSION:Foreign bodies or inflammatory granuloma could be one of the differential diagnoses of increased 18F-FDG uptake on PET/CT in patients with cervical cancer after treatment. Pathological evaluation should be considered in these patients to guide further treatment.