title: [Positron emission tomography in internal medicine].
abstract: FDG-PET is now an established diagnostic tool in oncology. Fluorodeoxyglucose is not a specific tracer for malignant lesions but rather for elevated glucose metabolism, present not only in cancer but also in inflammatory and infectious lesions. FDG-PET has thus been suggested for diagnosis of fevers of unknown origin, deep bone or visceral infectious foci, inflammatory vasculitis or sarcoidosis and unknown primary tumors, all frequent situation in internal medicine. The main characteristics of FDG-PET are its ability to rule out focal inflammation or infection with a high degree of certainty when the examination is negative because of its good negative predictive value and its usefulness as an early marker of therapeutic response, compared with anatomy-based or conventional scintigraphic imaging. Large-scale prospective studies are necessary, however, before FDG-PET is integrated into routine clinical use. It should be compared with different techniques already validated (biology, radiology, conventional scintigraphic imaging) and its cost-effectiveness should be evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Service de médecine nucléaire, HIA Val-de-Grâce, 74 Paris Cedex 05. gerald.bonardel@free.fr
authors.forename: Gérald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonardel
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lecoules
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mantzarides
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Carmoi
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gontier
authors.forename: Jean-Sébastien
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Blade
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soret
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Foehrenbach
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Algayres
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography