title: [Current status of nuclear medicine. Clinical application of FDG-PET for cancer diagnosis. Esophageal cancer].
abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is a tool for the imaging and evaluation of glucose metabolism. This technique has recently become available in more than thirty hospitals and has been approved under Japan's national health insurance program. FDG uptake correlates with glucose utilization in tissue and is widely used for evaluating malignant tumors as well as brain function and myocardial viability. FDG-PET is useful for the diagnosis of lung cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, malignant lymphoma, malignant melanoma, head and neck cancer, myocardial viability, and epileptic focus. A brief summary of the application and utility of FDG-PET for esophageal carcinoma is described in this article. Because of its limited spatial resolution, FDG-PET is not able to evaluate the invasiveness of primary tumors and small lesions. However, the uptake of FDG correlates with the aggressiveness of the tumor and the prognosis of patients with esophageal carcinoma. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of lymph node staging is higher than that with CT. FDG-PET has the advantage of being able to detect distant metastases on a single occasion. Evaluation of the response to therapy and of recurrence is also possible by means of FDG-PET. There is some normal uptake and physiological distribution of FDG in many organs. Physiological status has an effect on the uptake of FDG in normal organs, and, consequently, on lesion uptake. Understanding of these characteristics makes this procedure a useful diagnostic modality for the management of patients with esophageal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gunma University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Oriuchi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Noboru
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18