Evaluation of lymph node metastases in squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus with positron emission tomography

Background. Previous studies suggest positron emission tomography (PET) may improve staging accuracy of esophageal cancer compared with conventional methods, especially in detecting occult distant metastases. We evaluated the accuracy of PET in the detection of lymph node metastasis prospectively wi...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:The Annals of thoracic surgery 2001, Vol.71 (1), p.290-294
Hauptverfasser: Kim, Kwhanmien, Park, Seung Joon, Kim, Byung-Tae, Lee, Kyung Soo, Shim, Young Mog
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Background. Previous studies suggest positron emission tomography (PET) may improve staging accuracy of esophageal cancer compared with conventional methods, especially in detecting occult distant metastases. We evaluated the accuracy of PET in the detection of lymph node metastasis prospectively with pathologic findings. Methods. Fifty-three patients with squamous cell carcinoma underwent whole-body PET scan and chest computed tomography (CT). The findings of PET and chest CT of 50 patients who underwent curative esophagectomy with radical lymph node dissection were compared with the pathologic findings. Results. Among 53 primary esophageal tumors, PET detected 51 (96.2%) and CT detected 49 (92.5%) tumors correctly. Nodal metastases were present in 108 of 436 dissected lymph node groups. PET detected 56 metastatic node groups (51.9% sensitivity, 94.2% specificity, 83.7% accuracy), compared with CT, which detected 16 (14.8% sensitivity, 96.7% specificity, 76.6% accuracy; sensitivity: p < 0.005). Conclusions. PET was more sensitive than CT in the detection of nodal metastases and may improve staging of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.
ISSN:0003-4975
1552-6259
DOI:10.1016/S0003-4975(00)02221-9