title: Clinical value of FDG-PET in the follow up of post-operative patients with endometrial cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The clinical usefulness of FDG-PET in the follow up of post-operative patients with endometrial cancer was retrospectively evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one post-operative patients with endometrial cancer received 30 FDG-PET examinations to evaluate recurrence or response to treatment. The findings of FDG-PET were compared with their serum levels of tumor markers, CT and/or MRI findings, and the final outcome. Results of FDG-PET were also correlated with the clinical course of each patient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In detecting recurrent lesions and evaluating treatment responses, FDG-PET, with the help in anatomic information by CT/MRI, showed better diagnostic ability (sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 88.2%, accuracy 93.3%) compared with combined conventional imaging (sensitivity 84.6%, specificity 85.7%, accuracy 85.0%) and tumor markers (sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 70.6%, accuracy 83.3%). FDG-PET had no false-negative results, suggesting the possibility of its use as the first-line examination in a patient's follow-up. FDG-PET could detect unknown lesions in 4 cases, and, as reported for other malignancies, FDG-PET affected the patient management in one-third of the cases. Furthermore, the results of FDG-PET correlated well with the clinical outcome of the patients, with patients with negative PET results tending to show disease-free courses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that, despite the limited number of patients studied, FDG-PET was accurate in detecting recurrence and evaluating therapeutic response, and could afford important information in the management of post-operative patients with endometrial cancer. FDG-PET also appeared to have a possibility to predict the outcome of each patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan. saga@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsuneo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saga
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishimori
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mamede
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamoto
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Togashi
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yura
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Konishi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18