Detecting the Recurrence of Gastric Cancer after Curative Resection: Comparison of FDG PET/CT and Contrast-Enhanced Abdominal CT

• Published in: Journal of Korean medical science Vol. 26; no. 7; pp. 875 - 880
• Main Authors: Kim, Dae-Weung, Park, Soon-Ah, Kim, Chang Guhn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 01.07.2011; 대한의학회
• Subjects: Aged; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnosis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnostic imaging; Original; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Radiopharmaceuticals; Retrospective Studies; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stomach Neoplasms - diagnosis; Stomach Neoplasms - pathology; Stomach Neoplasms - surgery; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; 의학일반; FDG; Recurrence; Stomach Neoplasms; PET/CT; Contrast-enhanced Abdominal CT
• ISSN: 1011-8934; 1598-6357; 1598-6357
• DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.7.875

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) for detecting the recurrence of gastric cancer. We performed a retrospective review of 139 consecutive patients who underwent PET/CT and contrast-enhanced abdominal CT (CECT) for surveillance of gastric cancer after curative resection. Recurrence of gastric cancer was validated by histopathologic examination for local recurrence or serial imaging study follow-up with at least 1 yr interval for recurrence of distant metastasis form. Twenty-eight patients (20.1%) were confirmed as recurrence. On the patient based analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of PET/CT (53.6%, 84.7%, and 78.4%, respectively) and those of CECT (64.3%, 86.5%, and 82.0%, respectively) for detecting tumor recurrence except in detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Among 36 recurrent lesions, 8 lesions (22.2%) were detected only on PET/CT, and 10 lesions (27.8%) only on CECT. PET/CT had detected secondary malignancy in 8 patients. PET/CT is as accurate as CECT in detection of gastric cancer recurrence after curative resection, excepting detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Moreover, additional PET/CT on CECT could improve detection rate of tumor recurrence and provide other critical information such as unexpected secondary malignancy.