title: Current role of positron emission tomography in thoracic oncology.
abstract: Continuing advances in PET imaging have resulted in an improved ability to evaluate thoracic malignancies. Published reports demonstrate that PET provides accurate, non-invasive detection and staging of thoracic malignancy. Preliminary studies suggest that PET may also be able to assess the therapeutic response accurately. The studies investigating PET have been relatively small but have shown statistically significant advantages over conventional non-invasive techniques in accuracy and possibly even cost/benefit performance in thoracic malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, St Louis University Health Sciences Center, Missouri 63110-0250, USA.
authors.forename: V J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Naunheim
mesh_terms: D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed