Diagnostic Accuracy and Interrater Agreement of FDG-PET/CT Lymph Node Staging in High-Risk Endometrial Cancer: The...

Background/Objectives: The SENTIREC-endo study identified a safe sentinel lymph node mapping algorithm combined with PET-positive node dissection, matching radical pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy in high-risk endometrial cancer. The present study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT for lymph node metastases in the same population based on location, size, and Standardised Uptake Value (SUV), in addition to assessing interrater agreement across three Danish centres. Methods: This prospective multicentre study included women with high-risk endometrial cancer from the Danish SENTIREC study database (2017-2023). All patients underwent preoperative FDG-PET/CT. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated against a pathology-confirmed reference standard. Interrater agreement was evaluated between trained specialists in Nuclear Medicine. Results: Among 227 patients, 52 patients (23%) had lymph node metastases. FDG-PET/CT identified lymph node metastases with 56% sensitivity (95% CI: 42-68) and 91% specificity (95% CI: 86-94). Positive and negative predictive values were 64% and 87%, respectively. Specificity for paraaortic nodes was high (97%), though sensitivity remained limited (56%). Lymph node size and SUVmax had moderate diagnostic value (AUC-ROC ~0.7). Interrater proportion of agreement was 95% and Cohen's Kappa κ = 0.84 (95% CI: 0.73-0.94), the latter of which was 'almost perfect'. Conclusions: FDG-PET/CT had limited sensitivity in lymph node staging in high-risk EC, and the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT remains complementary to the sentinel node procedure. Due to its high specificity and strong interrater reliability, FDG-PET/CT is recommended for clinical implementation in combination with the sensitive sentinel node biopsy for the targeted dissection of PET-positive lymph nodes, particularly in paraaortic regions.