Value of ~(18)FDG PET-CT in defining the length of esophageal cancer / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the value of 18-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission-CT(FDG PET-CT) in defining the length of primary esophageal cancer.Methods Thirty-two patients had underg- one esophagoscopy,esophagography and FDG PET-CT scans one week before esophagectomy.There was one tumor located in the upper thoracic esophagus,22 in the middle thoracic esophagus,and 9 in the lower tho- racic esophagus.The location and length of primary lesion of the tumor was determined by esophagoscopy, esophagography,and FDG PET-CT.The length of the abnormality seen on the CT portion of the PET-CT scan was determined separately and independently by two radiologists.All results were compared with the resected specimen.Results According to esophagography,CT and PET-CT,all lesion lengths were compared with that of the resected specimen.It was found that the tumor location determined by esophagoscopy was not in accordance with the resected specimen in 2 patients.The mean length of the primary tumor,being from short to long,were (3.8?1.4),(4.1?1.5),(4.4?1.6),(5.3?1.9) and (4.7?1.7) cm,as determined by esophagoscopy,esophagography,CT,actral length of the resected specimen and PET-CT.Compared with the resected specimen,there was obvious difference (P=0.000,0.007,0.025,0.001).Considering that there might be some kind of shrinkage in the resected specimen (about 83.59%,as reported by Ma et al), we rectified the length of resected specimen and compared with other findings again.It was found that insig- nificant difference existed between PET-CT and rectified length value of the resected specimen (P=0.082). Conclusions FDG PET-CT is effective in the length determination of primary esophageal cancer.It may he used to determine the length of esophagus to be resected for patients indicated for esophagectomy.It may also be used to ac- curately delineate the gross tumor volume for patients eligible for radiotherapy.