title: PET staging of mediastinal lymph nodes in thoracic oncology.
abstract: There is an extensive and growing body of literature about the role of positron emission tomography (PET) in the management of non-small cell lung cancer and esophageal cancer. This article focuses on the use of PET in mediastinal staging of these common thoracic malignancies. PET is the most accurate noninvasive approach to staging mediastinal lymph nodes in non-small cell lung cancer. The role of PET in mediastinal lymph node staging in esophageal cancer is less clear, since it has been largely supplanted by endoscopic ultrasonography. A review of the evidence for and against the use of PET in mediastinal staging is provided and the use of PET in practice is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, 3108 Queeny Tower, One Barnes-Jewish Hospital Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63110-1013, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Broderick
authors.forename: Bryan F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Meyers
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed