In contrast, the yield of routine technical examinations in stage I/II patients have previously been reported to be much lower between 4 11%, with studies mostly reporting the use of chest X-ray and sonography of the abdomen, but none using sonography of the lymph nodes (Kersey et al, 1985; Goerz et al, 1986; Bassères et al, 1995; Weiss et al, 1995; Bastien et al, 1997; Mooney et al, 1998).
For some important steps of cancer care (resection, pathology report, LN examination, chemotherapy in stage III, rectal radiotherapy), adherence was the same or higher than in other studies [ 19, 20].
Vaginal examination in second stage to feel for nuchal cord is invasive, often painful and performed without informed consent [ 27, 28] and scientific evidence to support its routine practice is lacking [ 26].
The retrospective nature of this study and the relatively small cohort coupled with an unequal proportion of examinations performed in stage IV disease are potential limitations as they may positively skew the results and contribute to the high estimation of the clinical impact of FDG PET-CT.
Accordingly, the FIGO classification [2], which is the internationally recognised staging system for cervical cancer, relies solely on clinical examination in assessing tumour stage.
Three hours after inoculation with E. coli, all mares had significant inflammatory oedema (E4) detectable by ultrasonographic examination in both cycle stages.
Thus it appears that while immunoscintigraphy may be a useful adjunct to preoperative clinical assessment and is simple and safe, a major improvement in its accuracy is needed before it can replace axillary dissection and histological examination in the accurate staging of axilla in breast cancer.
We recommend the routine surveillance of esophagus by performing NBI system with ME examination in the initial staging workup of newly diagnosed N&N cancer patients with risk factors identified by this study, and the treatment of synchronous neoplasia should be taken into consideration.
Clinical examinations, comprised of history-taking and physical examination, are used in stage-one.
