Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences (Sep 2020)

The Role of PET-CT in Gastric Cancer — A Narrative Review

  • Raluca-Ioana Dascălu,
  • Dan Nicolae Păduraru,
  • Alexandra Bolocan,
  • Daniel Ion,
  • Octavian Andronic

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18502/sjms.v15i3.7749
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common and leading causes of cancer death worldwide, with an increasing risk and prevalence. Although the usage of 18-FDG PET-CT in gastric cancer evaluation remains a matter of debate and is not consistently recommended by international guidelines, our descriptive review aims to highlight its actual role in the diagnostic accuracy, staging, therapeutic management, and relapse monitoring of this malignancy. Methods: The current research was conducted using scholarly databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar by searching useful science journals, references, and abstracts on the topic. The keywords used were “gastric cancer” AND “PET-CT”. Results: 18-FDG PET-CT remains a promising method with increasing clinical utility not only across a wide variety of malignancies, but also among gastric cancer patients. Conclusions: We are certain that with further improvements, this technique could improve the diagnosis and evaluation of gastric cancer, and make it more approachable and accurate.

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