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Advanced cervical cancer is an ideal disease to study – in clinical patients – the vascular, cellular and molecular tumor properties that can provide essential information to monitor therapeutic responsiveness, facilitate treatment planning and may provide early prediction of ultimate success or failure of an ongoing treatment.
Advanced cervical cancer is treated with cytotoxic therapy: radiation and concurrent chemotherapy. It is a highly prevalent disease globally, and treatment failure is common. The propensity of cervical cancer for hypoxia and poor vasculature within the often bulky heterogenous tumor volume is well-recognized. Because advanced cervical cancer is not surgically resected, functional/molecular imaging provides unique opportunities for non-invasive assessment throughout the treatment course.
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