Clinical significance of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the follow-up of colorectal cancer: searching off approaches increasing specificity for detection of recurrence

Abstract

Nearly 40% of colorectal cancer (CRC) recurs within 2 years after resection of primary tumor. Imaging with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (l8F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is the most recent modality and often applied for the evaluation of metastatic spread during the follow-up period. Our goal was to study the diagnostic importance of 18F-FDG-PET/CT data of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and the difference of SUVmax on dual-time imaging in CRC.

Keywords

• metabolic tumor markers
• recurrent colorectal cancer
• 18f-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography
• computed tomography