PET and PET/CT for pancreatic malignancies.
FDG PET imaging is useful for preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma in patients with suspected pancreatic cancer in whom CT fails to identify a discrete tumor mass or in whom FNAs are nondiagnostic. FDG PET imaging is useful for M staging and restaging by detecting CT occult metastatic disease, allowing noncurative resection to be avoided in this group of patients. FDG PET can differentiate post-therapy changes from recurrence and holds promise for monitoring neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy. The technique is less useful in periampullary carcinoma and marginally helpful in staging except for M staging. As with other malignancies, FDG PET is complementary to morphologic imaging with CT, therefore, integrated PET/CT imaging provides optimal images for interpretation and thus more optimal patient care.
Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 21st Avenue South and Garland, Nashville, TN 37232-2675, USA. Dominique.delbeke@vanderbilt.edu <Dominique.delbeke@vanderbilt.edu>
Dominique
D
Delbeke
William H
WH
Martin
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18