Preliminary research suggests that whole-body PET and CT scans could provide a suitable method for diagnosing the stage of colorectal cancer, according to a study in the December 6 issue of JAMA.

Colorectal cancer accounts for a large number of tumor-related deaths. Exact and complete information on the stage of the tumor is of great benefit to patients, according to background information in the article. Determining the stage of colorectal cancer often requires a multimodality, multistep imaging approach. Complete "conventional" staging determination requires additional imaging procedures to assess potential metastatic spread to lymph nodes and solid organs. Colonography combining the imaging procedures of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) provides whole-body tumor staging in a single session.

Of conventional imaging procedures, contrast-enhanced CT is the most common for both the abdomen and the thorax. However, CT offers only form and structure data for the evaluation of the tumor stage. Combined PET/CT scanners have been introduced into clinical practice to provide additional information on a tumor. By performing PET/CT colonography as a whole-body imaging procedure, multimodality diagnostic workup can be shortened.

Patrick Veit-Haibach, M.D., of University Hospital Essen, Germany, and colleagues evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body PET/CT colonography for 47 patients with colorectal cancer and compared those findings with the accuracy of conventional CT staging alone and CT followed by PET (CT + PET). Patients with clinical findings and optical colonoscopy that suggested primary colorectal cancer were enrolled between May 2004 and June 2006. Patients underwent whole-body PET/CT colonography 1 day after colonoscopy. Fifty lesions were detected in the 47 patients.

Based on a lesion-to-lesion analysis, TNM stage (different classifications of tumor stage) was correctly determined b
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Contact: Gerald Antoch
gerald.antoch@uni-duisburg-essen.de
JAMA and Archives Journals
5-Dec-2006