title: [Clinical significance of integrated PET/CT in the diagnosis of thoracic cancers].
abstract: Integrated positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) [PET/CT] using F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) can visualize not only tumor viability but also anatomical structures of the tumor and surrounding normal tissues. In this article, usefulness and significances of FDG-PET/CT in the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancers were described. It is useful for differentiating benign from malignant pulmonary nodules and diagnostic accuracy for it by PET/CT was better than that by MDCT. It is also useful for pre-surgical staging of non-small cell lung cancers. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy by PET/CT were 77approximately 89%, 84 approximately 94%, 83 approximately 93%, respectively. While those by MDCT were 59 approximately 70%, 59 approximately 69%, and 60 approximately 69%, respectively. There are some limitations of PET/CT for cancer diagnosis. Because of limited spatial resolution (5 mm), the FDG uptake in small-sized pulmonary nodule was underestimated. FDG uptake in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma is low because of low Glut-1 expression. These may cause false negative cases. FGD uptake in granulation tissues such as sarcoidosis, and in lesions with active inflammation are high so that results in false positive cases. In conclusion, FDG-PET/CT is very useful and indispensable for the management of lung cancers, although there are some limitations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18