Clinical value of positron emission tomography-CT for the diagnosis of postoperative recurrence and metastasis in the patients with esophageal cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the clinical value of the whole-body (18)F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography with computerized tomography (PET-CT) for recurrence and distant metastasis after curative resection of the esophagus cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From June 2003 to June 2004, thirty-one patients with clinical or radiologic suspicion of recurrent disease underwent conventional diagnostic work-up, including a spiral CT scan, and a dedicated whole-body PET-CT. All cases were examined by pathology or followed-up for 6 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 31 cases, recurrences were found in 23 patients, and 43 recurrent lesions were detected, including 14 perianastomotic lesions and 43 regional and distant lesions. For the diagnosis of recurrence, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of PET-CT were 97.7%, 100%, and 85.7%, while those of conventional CT were 77.3%, 61.7%, and 78.6% respectively. The sensitivity of PET-CT was significantly higher than that of conventional CT (100% vs 61.7%; chi (2)=4.161, P=0.041).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The sensitivity of PET-CT is higher than that of conventional CT. PET-CT will play an important role in the diagnosis of postoperative recurrence and metastasis of esophageal cancer.</p>