18F-DG PET/CT in detection of recurrence and metastasis of colorectal cancer

AIM: To evaluate the value of F-18-DG PET/CT in detecting recurrence and/or metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Combined visual analysis with semiquantitative analysis, the F-18-DG PET/CT whole-body imaging results and the corresponding clinical data of 68 postoperative CRC patients including 48 male and 20 female with average age of 58.1 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Recurrence and/or metastasis were confirmed in 56 patients in the clinical follow-up after the PET/CT imaging. The sensitivity of PET/CT diagnosis of CRC recurrence and/or metastasis was 94.6%, and the specificity was 83.3%. The positive predictive value (PPV) was 96.4% and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 76.9%. PET/CT imaging detected one or more occult malignant lesions in 8 cases where abdominal/pelvic CT and/or ultrasonography showed negative findings, and also detected more lesions than CT or ultrasonography did in 30.4% (17/56) cases. Recurrence and/or metastasis was detected in 91.7% (22/24) cases with elevated serum CEA levels by F-18-DG PET/CT imaging. CONCLUSION: F-18-DG PET/CT could detect the recurrence and/or metastasis of CRC with high sensitivity and specificity. (c) 2007 WJG. All rights reserved.