• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Diagnostic Performance of Whole Body Dual Modality 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging for N- and M-Staging of Malignant Melanoma: Experience With 250 Consecutive Patients
  • Contributor: Reinhardt, Michael J.; Joe, Alexius Y.; Jaeger, Ursula; Huber, Andrea; Matthies, Alexander; Bucerius, Jan; Roedel, Roland; Strunk, Holger; Bieber, Thomas; Biersack, Hans-Juergen; Tüting, Thomas
  • imprint: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), 2006
  • Published in: Journal of Clinical Oncology
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1200/jco.2005.03.5634
  • ISSN: 0732-183X; 1527-7755
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose</jats:title><jats:p> To assess the diagnostic performance of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) using <jats:sup>18</jats:sup>F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for N- and M-staging of cutaneous melanoma. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Patients and Methods</jats:title><jats:p> This is a retrospective and blinded study of 250 consecutive patients (105 women, 145 men; age 58 ± 16 years) who underwent FDG-PET/CT for staging of cutaneous melanoma at different time points in the course of disease. Whole-body FDG-PET/CT was performed 101 ± 21 minutes postinjection of 371 ± 41 MBq FDG. Diagnostic accuracy for N- and M-staging was determined for CT alone, PET alone, and PET/CT. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p> PET/CT detected significantly more visceral and nonvisceral metastases than PET alone and CT alone (98.7%, 88.8%, and 69.7%, respectively). PET/CT imaging thus provided significantly more accurate interpretations regarding overall N- and M-staging than PET alone and CT alone. Overall N- and M-stage was correctly determined by PET/CT in 243 of 250 patients (97.2%; 95% CI, 95.2% to 99.4%) compared with 232 patients (92.8%; 95% CI, 89.6% to 96.0%) by PET, and 197 patients (78.8%; 95% CI, 73.7% to 83.9%) by CT. All differences were significant. Accuracy of PET/CT was significantly higher than that of PET and CT for M-staging (0.98 v 0.93 and 0.84) and significantly higher than that of CT for N-Staging (0.98 v 0.86). Change of treatment according to PET/CT findings occurred in 121 patients (48.4%). </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p> The diagnostic performance of FDG-PET/CT for N- and M-staging of melanoma patients suggests its use for whole-body tumor staging, especially for detection or exclusion of distant metastases. </jats:p></jats:sec>
  • Access State: Open Access