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PET/CT
Scan Could Be Valuable Noninvasive Tool
For Determining Stages Of Ovarian Cancer
Combined positron emission tomography
(PET) and computed tomography (CT)
scanning of patients in the early stages
of ovarian cancer can enable physicians to
determine whether the cancer has spread to
nearby lymph nodes without having to
perform surgery, according to researchers
at the SNM's 55th Annual Meeting. As a
result, unnecessary surgeries could be
reduced, which would also lower morbidity
rates and postoperative complications for
ovarian cancer patients.
"Our preliminary research indicates
that using PET/CT scanning in this way
could greatly improve quality of life for
many patients with ovarian cancer,"
said Luca Guerra, doctor of nuclear
medicine, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza,
Italy, and lead researcher of the study,
18F-FDG PET/CT Usefulness in Initial
Staging of Ovarian Cancer. "PET/CT
scans could allow many women to forego
major abdominal surgery to determine
whether their cancer has spread. It's a
much safer alternative for determining the
stages of ovarian cancer."
More than 20,000 U.S. women will be
diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year,
according to recent estimates, and more
than 15,000 women will die from it. Unlike
many other types of cancer, there is
currently no reliable screening test to
determine whether a woman has ovarian
cancer. Physicians usually perform surgery
to diagnose and stage ovarian cancer.
Although CT and MRI technologies are
useful in determining surgery in advanced
cases of the disease, both have limited
accuracy in determining stages of ovarian
cancer.
While systematic lymphadenectomy -
surgically removing all of the lymph nodes
for testing rather than sampling a small
number of the lymph nodes - is more
accurate in determining whether the cancer
has spread, the surgery takes longer,
often requires blood transfusions and can
result in life-threatening complications.
If all early-stage ovarian cancer patients
underwent lymphadenectomy, approximately
75 percent of the surgeries would prove
unnecessary.
In their research, Guerra and his team
examined results of 30 women diagnosed
with ovarian cancer who underwent PET/CT
scanning before surgery to determine the
stage of their disease. The results
indicated that PET/CT staging was correct
in 67 percent of patients and more than 98
percent accurate in scanning the lymph
nodes of stage I and stage II ovarian
cancer patients. These very promising
results need to be confirmed in a larger
patient population.
While most previous studies that examined
the potential of PET technologies have not
indicated a definite role in the staging
of ovarian cancer, many of the studies
involved very small groups of women, and
the scanners used were simple PET scanners
rather than state-of-the-art, combined
PET/CT scanners.
----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today
from original press release.
----------------------------
Scientific Paper 440: L. Guerra, M. Arosio,
M. Musarra, Department of Nuclear
Medicine; with A Garbi, C. Mangioni,
Gynaecological Division, San Gerardo
Hospital, Monza, Italy; C. Crivellaro, S.
Sironi, School of Medicine, all of
University of Milan Bicocca, Monza, Italy;
C Messa, IBFM-CNR-Institute for Molecular
Bioimaging and Physiology, Milan, Italy;
F. Fazio, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital,
Milan, Italy, "18F-FDG PET/CT
Usefulness in Initial Staging of Ovarian
Cancer," SNM's 55th Annual Meeting,
June 14-18, 2008.
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