Basic principles and oncological applications of the [sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT/ Principios basicos e aplicacoes oncologicas do PET-CT/[sup.18]F-FDG

Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography represents a technological leap for Nuclear Medicine and particularly for Oncology, as it is able to differentiate between benign and malignant changes based on semiquantitative data from the metabolism of radiopharmaceuticals by body tissues. The present work aimed to perform a narrative review of the main contemporary bibliographical surveys about the physical principles of [sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT, their applications in Oncology and the technological advances of this methodology. This work was elaborated based on articles obtained from databases PubMed, SciELO and Microsoft Academic Search, with descriptors related to PET/CT and Oncology. The reviewed articles show that [sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT is an important technique for obtaining morphofunctional images of the patient's body with great applicability in Oncology. The [sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT is recommended in cases of identification and follow-up of tumor staging, monitoring therapeutic results against cancer and target planning in radiotherapy treatments. Furthermore, the development of more efficient mathematical algorithms and radiation detection systems in [sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT improves image quality and reduces examination time.