Physiological ¹⁸F-FDG uptake by the spinal cord: is it a point of consideration for cancer patients?

It is essential to be familiar with normal patterns of (18)F FDG distribution in the whole body for accurate PET interpretation. We assessed FDG uptake by the spinal cord to evaluate its characteristics in cancer patients. For 101 cancer patients who underwent (18)F FDG PET/CT the spinal cord along its segments was visually assessed for FDG uptake, regarding MaxSUV-measurement ≥1 as cut-off point.

PET versus PET/CT dual-modality imaging in evaluation of lung cancer.

Software coregistration of FDG-PET and CT datasets as well as integrated FDG-PET/CT enable significantly more accurate assessment of NSCLC staging than either modality alone. Integrated FDG-PET/CT has been shown to be more accurate in NSCLC staging than FDG-PET and CT read side by side. However, the benefits of anatometabolic imaging using FDG-PET/CT can only be fully exploited if optimized acquisition protocols are implemented.

PET versus PET/CT dual-modality imaging in evaluation of lung cancer.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 80% of bronchogenic malignancies. The choice of therapy options, including surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy-used alone or in combination-is based on the tumor stage. Consequently, the accurate determination of tumor size, potential infiltration of adjacent structures, mediastinal lymph node involvement, and the detection of distant metastases are of central importance.

Can PET/CT replace separate diagnostic CT for cancer imaging? Optimizing CT protocols for imaging cancers of the chest and abdomen.

Stage-adapted treatment in oncology relies on correct tumor staging for patients with malignant diseases. To ensure accurate assessment of the tumor stage in thoracic and abdominal diseases by PET/CT, both CT and PET need to be optimized. In this setting, different malignant diseases require customized imaging protocols.

False-positive FDG PET uptake--the role of PET/CT.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a powerful molecular imaging technique for the human body-imaging applications currently available. As altered glucose metabolism is characteristic for many malignancies, FDG-PET is mostly used in oncology for staging and therapy control. Although PET is a sensitive tool for detecting malignancy, FDG uptake is not tumor specific.

Dual modality of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography in patients with cervical carcinoma of unknown primary.

Objective: To evaluate an optimized F-18-flurodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) acquisition protocol for head and neck cancer and assess the usefulness of combined FDG-PET/CT in locating unknown primary tumors in patients with biopsy-proven cervical lymph node metastases.

Subjects And Methods: Twenty-one patients with cervical lymph node metastases of unknown primary tumors underwent staging with FDG-PET/CT. The images of FDG-PET alone, CT alone, FDG-PET/CT read side by side and fused and FDG-PET/CT were evaluated separately by 2 physicians.