PET/CT is a type of nuclear medicine imaging that uses traces of radioactive material to diagnose or treat many types of cancers. Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the United States and the second most common in Europe. “With modern surgical techniques and advanced chemotherapy, growing subsets of patients with colorectal cancer recurrences are being considered for treatment with curative intent. Therefore, accurate restaging and early detection of recurrence is important,” said Rohit Kochhar, M.D., lead author of the study.

The study, performed at the Christie NHS [National Health Service] Foundation Trust (Manchester, UK) included 71 patients with suspected colorectal recurrence. Fifty-one patients had a suspected local recurrence based upon traditional CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 20 patients had a suspected recurrence based upon a carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test with unremarkable conventional imaging results.

All 71 patients underwent a PET/CT scan to confirm/disconfirm recurrence. “PET/CT accurately confirmed a recurrence in 40/71 patients. This shows that PET/CT has a definite role in the management of patients with recurrent colorectal cancer in addition to conventional imaging and the CEA test,” concluded Dr. Kochhar.

The study was presented May 5, 2010, at the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) 2010 annual meeting, held in San Diego, CA, USA.

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Christie NHS Foundation Trust