Transrectal Ultrasound in Cervical Cancer: A Systematic Review of its Current Application.

Introduction: The use of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) is established in prostate cancer but remains limited in cervical cancer. This systematic review aims to aggregate and describe the current use and advancements of TRUS in cervical cancer to identify gaps in the literature.

Methods: This study follows a protocol registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42024520099). It includes cervical cancer patients confirmed by histopathological analysis, where TRUS was used for diagnosis or as an adjunct to therapeutic procedures. Cross-sectional, case-control, cohort, or randomized controlled trials published in any language were included. The risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS).

Results: From an initial pool of 3380 articles, 50 duplicates were removed, leaving 3330 unique articles. After screening titles and abstracts, 2932 articles were excluded, resulting in 31 studies included in the review. These studies involved 1635 women with cervical cancers, with a mean age of 52.9 years. Histopathologically, 81.2% were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 39.6% were at FIGO stage IIB. Nineteen studies were prospective, five retrospective, and fourteen used consecutive sampling. Only 10 articles had a fair rating, while the rest received poor ratings. Complications from post-TRUS included pain (N = 106), haemorrhage (N = 59), and perforations (N = 10). TRUS was used in seven areas, including cancer extension and pre-operative assessment. It showed a strong correlation with MRI but had lower sensitivity. TRUS was useful in staging, diagnosis, and guiding brachytherapy, demonstrating comparable accuracy to MRI in several instances.

Conclusion: The recommended use of TRUS in cervical cancer is still limited in formal guidelines, and clinical research remains insufficient.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13224-024-02047-8.