News Release

PET scans reduce unnecessary colorectal surgeries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

Reston, Virginia…More than 60% of surgeries planned for patients with suspected recurrence of colorectal cancer were found to be unnecessary as the result of a PET scan according to a new study of 102 patients published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The study confirmed PET’s impact on treatment planning—and particularly on the reduction of unnecessary, and ultimately ineffective, surgeries. Overall, the management plan for 59% of patients in the study was directly influenced by findings on PET scans.

In addition to the dramatic impact on surgical patients, PET scans also had an impact on patients for whom radiotherapy was planned but who subsequently did not receive the treatment. Because of the PET scans, surgery or radiotherapy was initiated for 18 patients.

PET was also able to allay concerns. For five of the patients with suspicious findings on conventional imaging, PET scans were found to be normal, and follow-ups indicated no recurrence.

One of PET’s traditional strengths has been its ability to detect disease before it is visible on other imaging modalities but where other indications, such as rising CEA levels, suggest that disease is recurring somewhere in the body. The study reiterated this point: Overall, 12% of the patients were moved from observation to active treatment and 10 of the12 patients had rising markers.

The authors cautioned that PET scans did have some limitations. In a small number of cases, while PET identified that disease was present, it underestimated the extent of the disease as revealed by later treatment or invasive surgery. There were also 4 false-negative findings, which the authors attribute primarily to the small size, <1cm, of the lesions.

The study examined the PET scans and treatment progress of 96 patients who were referred for PET, and for whom their physicians had indicated a proposed treatment plan based on their current (pre-PET) status, and an additional 6 patients for whom the status was known and the PET scans ordered, but whose physicians preferred to wait for the PET results prior to creating a treatment plan. Using this information, the researchers were able to correlate patient disease indications with what actually transpired and, for 96 patients, with what had previously been planned.

According to the American Cancer Society, in the United States, the colon and rectum combined (colorectal) is the third most common site of new cancer cases and deaths in both men and women. There will be an estimated 148,300 new cases and 56,600 deaths from the disease in 2002. An individual’s lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer in the United States is nearly 6%, with over 90% of cases occurring after age 50. Colorectal cancer death rates decreased by 1.8% per year from 1992 to 1998.

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The Clinical Impact of 18-F-FDG PET in Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Recurrence of Colorectal Cancer: A Prospective Study was written by Victor Kalff, MB, BS, Rodney J. Hicks, MD, Robert E. Ware, MB, BS, Annette Hogg, PhD; David Bins, Dip App Sci and Allan F. McKenzie, MB, BS of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, East Melbourne, Australia.

Copies of the article and images related to the study are available to media upon request to Karen Lubieniecki at Karenlub@aol.com, (703) 683-0357. Copies of this and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine are available online at jnm.snmjournals.org. Print copies can be obtained at $15 per copy by contacting the SNM Service Center, Society of Nuclear Medicine, 1850 Samuel Morse Drive, Reston, VA 20190-5315; phone: (703) 326-1186; fax: (703) 708-9015; e-mail: servicecenter@snm.org. A yearly subscription to the journal is $170. A journal subscription is a member benefit of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

SAVE THE DATE! June 15-19, 2002
Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting Los Angeles, CA
Annual Meeting highlights include MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS, IMAGE OF THE YEAR, TWO PRESS BRIEFINGS AND SESSIONS INCLUDING “TERRORISM AND RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS”


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