Abstract
UNLABELLED: Squamous cell oesophageal carcinoma is the most common carcinoma of the oesophagus worldwide. The tumour stage as most important prognostic factor determines the clinical management.
AIM: of this study was to evaluate the value of FDG-PET 1. in imaging the primary tumour and 2. in N- and M-staging of squamous cell oesophageal carcinoma.
PATIENTS, METHODS: In 20 patients with histological proven squamous cell carcinoma of the upper and middle oesophagus, FDG-PET was performed in standard technique prior to therapy. FDG uptake in the primary was determined by calculation of the SUVmax. NM-staging due to PET findings was performed as designated by the AJCC/UICC group classification and was compared with pathological and clinically based staging. Sensitivities, specificities and accuracies were calculated.
RESULTS: In 19 of 20 patients, primary squamous cell oesopohageal carcinoma was detected by FDG-PET findings with a maximum SUV of 12.5 (mean) +/- 5.1 (median 11.5; range 4.8-23.8). One carcinoma in situ was missed. The sensitivity of FDG-PET in imaging the primary tumour was 96%. The sensitivities, specificities and accuracies were 20%, 100%, 58% for N-staging, and 60%, 86% and 93% for M-staging. PET findings caused changes of therapy in 5% (1 patient).
CONCLUSIONS: FDG-PET was excellent in imaging the primary of squamous cell oesophageal carcinoma in stage T1-T4 and was efficient in M-staging. The low sensitivity in N-staging is of inferior clinical importance. The efficacy of FDG-PET seems to be not significantly be influenced by the histological subtype of oesophageal carcinoma.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | NuklearMedizin |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Pages (from-to) | 235-41 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| ISSN | 0029-5566 |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 |
