The value of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography on the pre-operative staging and the management of patients with pancreatic carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the value of FDG-PET/CT on the pre-operative staging of pancreatic cancer and its impact on clinical management.


METHODS
From December 2006 to January 2013, data of pancreatic carcinoma patients who underwent surgical treatment at our center was collected retrospectively. MDCT and FDGPET/CT were used separately to diagnose and stage the tumor. Pre-operation staging by MDCT with chest x-ray and by FDG-PET/CT was compared according to the final pathological staging.


RESULTS
A total of 79 histologically proven pancreatic cancer patients were enrolled in this study. FDG-PET/CT was more accurate in the detection of tumor (PET/CT vs. MDCT: 93.67% vs. 88.61%, p=0.402). The SE (60.00% vs. 24.00%, p=0.01) and accuracy (87.81% vs. 76.83%, p=0.015) of PET/CT to detect distant metastasis is significantly higher than those of MDCT. FDG-PET/CT also showed advantage over CT in the detection of metastatic lymph nodes (52.83% vs. 16.98%, p<0.001; accuracy: 66.67% vs. 41.33, p=0.002). The extra staging information PET/CT provided could have skipped eight patients (10.13%) of unnecessary surgical exploration.


CONCLUSIONS
FDG-PET/CT is an important staging procedure and helps to make the clinical decision for the patients with pancreatic carcinoma.
Xiao-Yi
XY
Wang
Feng
F
Yang
Chen
C
Jin
Yi-Hui
YH
Guan
Hui-Wei
HW
Zhang
De-Liang
DL
Fu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061330:Multidetector Computed Tomography; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18