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Copyright ©2007 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2007; 13(37): 5025-5029
Published online Oct 7, 2007. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v13.i37.5025
18F-DG PET/CT in detection of recurrence and metastasis of colorectal cancer
Long-Bang Chen, Jin-Long Tong, Hai-Zhu Song, Hong Zhu, Yu-Cai Wang
Long-Bang Chen, Jin-Long Tong, Hai-Zhu Song, Yu-Cai Wang, Department of Medical Oncology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China
Hong Zhu, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Long-Bang Chen, Department of Medical Oncology, Jinling Hospital, School of Medicine, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China. chen.lb@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-25-80860123 Fax: +86-25-80860123
Received: April 14, 2007
Revised: July 26, 2007
Accepted: July 30, 2007
Published online: October 7, 2007
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the value of 18F-DG PET/CT in detecting recurrence and/or metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS: Combined visual analysis with semiquantitative analysis, the 18F-DG PET/CT whole-body imaging results and the corresponding clinical data of 68 postoperative CRC patients including 48 male and 20 female with average age of 58.1 were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTS: Recurrence and/or metastasis were confirmed in 56 patients in the clinical follow-up after the PET/CT imaging. The sensitivity of PET/CT diagnosis of CRC recurrence and/or metastasis was 94.6%, and the specificity was 83.3%. The positive predictive value (PPV) was 96.4% and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 76.9%. PET/CT imaging detected one or more occult malignant lesions in 8 cases where abdominal/pelvic CT and/or ultrasonography showed negative findings, and also detected more lesions than CT or ultrasonography did in 30.4% (17/56) cases. Recurrence and/or metastasis was detected in 91.7% (22/24) cases with elevated serum CEA levels by 18F-DG PET/CT imaging.

CONCLUSION: 18F-DG PET/CT could detect the recurrence and/or metastasis of CRC with high sensitivity and specificity.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Recurrence; Metastasis; Positron emission tomography; Computed tomography