Download PDF
Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · World J Nucl Med 2017; 16(01): 21-25
DOI: 10.4103/1450-1147.176882
Original article

The pearl of FDG PET/CT in preoperative assessment of patients with potentially operable non-small-cell lung cancer and its clinical impact

Authors

  • Boom Kung

    Nuclear Medicine and Hospital Authority Clinical PET/CT Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong

  • Ting Yong

    Nuclear Medicine and Hospital Authority Clinical PET/CT Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong

  • Cheuk Tong

    Nuclear Medicine and Hospital Authority Clinical PET/CT Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Further Information
Also available at
 PDF Download Permissions and Reprints
Preview

The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the clinical impact and efficacy of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET/CT) on management decisions for patients suffering from clinically operable non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A retrospective review of 186 potentially operable NSCLC patients who underwent whole-body PET/CT examination in 2012 was performed. The patients were further analyzed via the electronic patient record (ePR) system for relevant findings. Overall change in management was assigned if a patient avoided unnecessary surgery due to disease upstaging or if a patient underwent further neoadjuvant treatment or investigation before the curative surgery. Of all 186 subjects, 65 (34.9%) became inoperable after PET/CT due to disease upstaging. The remaining 121 (65.1%) of patients remained operable after PET/CT examination. Nineteen out of 121 potentially operable patients did not receive curative surgery eventually, as 11 patients had poor clinical condition and 8 patients refused surgery. One hundred two out of 186 (54.8%) patients received curative operation following PET/CT. Among these 102 individuals, 97 patients (95%) proceeded to surgery without further neoadjuvant treatment or other investigatory procedures. Of the remaining 5 patients, 4 (3.9%) received neoadjuvant treatment and 1 (1.0%) had further investigation after PET/CT. Seventy of the 186 (37.6%) patients underwent changes in management plans after PET/CT study. Out of the 186 individuals, a subgroup of 141 (75.8%) patients underwent dedicated CT thorax before PET/CT examination. Forty-seven (33.3%) patients had avoided futile surgery due to disease upstaging. Fifty-one of the 141 (36.2%) patients underwent changes in management plans after PET/CT. PET/CT had great clinical impact, with significant reduction of futile curative surgery.

Keywords

Clinical impact - curative surgery - fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography - potentially operable non-small-cell lung cancer


Publication History

Article published online:
18 May 2022

© 2017. Sociedade Brasileira de Neurocirurgia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India