PARENT SESSION
8:00 AM to 8:50 AM
Sunday, April 21, 2002
Refresher Course 3
PET Imaging
Room: Nevada 8-9-10
Alavi, Abass33Division of Nuclear Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa
(RC03) Revolutionary Impact of PET Imaging on the Management of Patients with Cancer.
Alavi, Abass*,1, 1 Division of Nuclear Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
ABSTRACT-
Fluorine Deoxyglucose was introduced by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 for investigating regional brain function. Since the early 80's FDG-PET has been utilized to determine metabolic activities of a variety of malignancies but its use was accelerated during the 90's. By now, this technique is well accepted by the medical community as an effective imaging modality which complements the existing radiological methods. In general, FDG-PET appears to be more sensitive and specific than structural imaging techniques for the initial diagnosis, staging and re-staging, monitoring response to treatment and detecting recurrence of a large variety of malignancies. The role of FDG-PET is well established in cancer management, particularly in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, and both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. FDG-PET is the study of choice for the evaluation of patients with suspected recurrent colon cancer as manifested by elevated CEA levels. Similar statements can be made about other cancers, including head and neck tumors, melanomas and breast cancer. FDG-PET is increasingly being used to determine response to treatment specifically in patients with lymphomas. In recent years, as the role of FDG-PET is being established as a powerful clinical modality, many researchers are exploring positron labeled compounds for investigation of hypoxia, cell replication, apoptosis and angiogenesis. Several agents have been successfully tested for such applications and prospects for their routine application in cancer management are quite high. In summary, PET increasingly is becoming an important tool for both research and clinical purposes and its utilization as an integral element of practice of oncology will play a major role in enhancing our understanding of molecular biology of malignant tumors which in turn will lead to optimal management of patients with cancer.
KEYWORDS: FDG, PET, imaging, diagnosis