Prospective evaluation of the impact of [18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography of resectable colorectal liver metastases.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess the additional value of information provided by positron emission tomography (PET) with [(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) over that provided by computed tomography (CT) in patients with resectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer.


METHODS
Between October 2001 and November 2002, a prospective double-blind comparison of preoperative FDG-PET and thoracoabdominal CT was performed in 53 patients with potentially resectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer. All resected metastases were subjected to histological examination.


RESULTS
Histological examination confirmed the presence of malignant or benign lesions detected by PET and/or CT in 95 per cent of instances. Overall sensitivity (78 per cent) and accuracy (88 per cent) of PET were equivalent to those of CT (76 and 86 per cent respectively). The sensitivity of PET was equivalent to that of CT for hepatic sites (both 79 per cent), but was superior for extrahepatic abdominal sites (63 and 25 per cent respectively). PET provided additional information in five patients, mainly by revealing abdominal extrahepatic metastases, but falsely upstaged three patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Whole-body FDG-PET may identify unrecognized extrahepatic metastases in patients with potentially resectable liver metastases imaged by CT. However, additional information provided by PET is not as reliable as suggested by earlier retrospective studies.
Truant
S
S
Department of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospital, Hospital Huriez, 59037 Lille Cedex, France.
Huglo
D
D
Hebbar
M
M
Ernst
O
O
Steinling
M
M
Pruvot
F-R
FR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18