title: Whole-body 18FDG positron emission tomography in the staging of non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Despite advances in morphological imaging, some patients with lung cancer are found to have nonresectable disease at surgery or die of recurrence within yr of surgery. We performed a prospective study in 109 patients to compare the accuracy of whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) using fluorine-18 deoxyglucose (18FDG) and conventional imaging (CI) methods for the staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). When CI or PET study suggested metastatic disease, confirmation was obtained by biopsy or follow-up information. As compared to CI, 18FDG-PET correctly changed the N stage in 22 patients (33%) and the M stage in 15 patients (14%). For the detection of distant metastases, PET study showed five false-positive sites and no false-negative cases. Currently, the accuracy of PET in the detection of M stage is 96%. Our study shows that visual interpretation of whole-body fluorine-18 deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography images can improve the diagnostic accuracy in the staging of non-small cell lung cancer. Further experience is needed to establish if metabolic imaging would be a cost-effective tool in the future management of lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Pneumology, CHU Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bury
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dowlati
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Corhay
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hustinx
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ghaye
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radermecker
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rigo
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18