Follow up in chest tumors: Value of integrated PET/CT

Abstract

Objective: To identify the value of integrated PET/CT in the follow up of chest tumors. Patients and methods: Whole body PET/CT studies were performed on 29 patients of variable primary and secondary chest tumors. Results: Our findings indicate that FDG PET/CT has an important impact on evaluation and follow up of chest tumors, as it delineated the metabolic activity of the disease in 21 patients (72.41%), outlined the metabolic activity of the tumoral residue in 4 patients postoperatively (13.79%), delineated the metabolic activity of the disease in 2 patients preparing for BMT (6.89%), it differentiated between tumoral residue and post irradiation pneumonitis in 1 patient (3.44%), while it was used for the initial assessment of the metabolic activity of the disease before determining line of treatment in one patient and subsequent follow up. Conclusion: Integrated PET/CT imaging, which combines both functional and morphologic imaging in a single examination, has shown how the initial staging and subsequent follow-up of patients with chest tumors can supersede the traditional methods of evaluation in terms of diagnostic accuracy and has an impact on the management. Limitations we encountered were subcentimetric pulmonary nodules, below 7–8 mm (beyond PET resolution) which can be overcome by short follow up.

Keywords

• Integrated PET/CT
• Imaging
• Chest tumors
• Follow up