TITLE:
Combined 18F-FDG PET/CT with Enhanced CT Perform One-Stop Shop Imaging for Assessing Pancreatic Carcinoma
AUTHORS:
Miao Zhang, Min Zhang, Lihua Wang, Jiajia Hu, Biao Li
KEYWORDS:
Pancreas; Carcinoma; Computed Tomography; Positron Emission Tomography; Enhanced CT
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.3 No.5,
October
18,
2012
ABSTRACT: Objective: To evaluate the role of PET/CT with contrast enhanced CT in diagnosing and staging for pancreatic diseases and optimize the use of enhanced PET/CT as one-stop imaging modality. Methods: Fifty-six patients who presented with suspected pancreatic carcinoma underwent whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT and enhanced CT imaging. Images were interpreted and compared with the histopathology findings. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of enhanced CT, PET/CT and combined PET/CT with contrast enhanced CT diagnosis were analyzed. The vascular invasion and distant metastases of pancreatic lesions on different imaging modality were analyzed and compared. Results: Among the fifty-six patients evaluated for primary tumor, thirty-nine patients had malignant diseases and seventeen had benign lesions. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of enhanced CT were 87.5%, 75% and 83.9%, those of non-enhanced PET/CT were 89.7%, 88.2% and 89.2%, of PET/CT with enhanced CT were 100%, 94.1% and 98.2%. Combined PET/CT with enhanced CT had highest sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in diagnosing pancreatic carcinoma. Average SUVmax of malignant lesions was 6.72 ± 3.84, compared with 2.56 ± 1.22 for patients with benign disease (P P = 0.004). Conclusion: PET/CT with contrast enhanced CT is of greater value in the diagnosis of pancreatic lesions as well as preoperative staging especially in assessing vascular invasion and distant metastasis. It is feasible to perform one-stop shop imaging by combining PET/CT with enhanced CT, supplying more accurate assessment before operation and help to select optimal therapeutic plan.