The role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting colorectal cancer recurrence in patients with elevated CEA levels

INTRODUCTIONIn this study we aimed to define the success of fluorine-18 (F) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) in detecting recurrent disease in our patient group with colorectal cancer (CRC) and elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. MATERIAL AND METHODPatients who had a previous diagnosis of CRC were searched retrospectively in our PET center database. Seventy-six F-FDG PET/CT studies between October 2006 and December 2010 of 69 patients (25 women, 44 men; mean age61.61±4.1 years) with elevated CEA levels were evaluated. F-FDG PET/CT findings and concurrent abdominopelvic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (ceCT) findings were compared with histopathological findings and/or clinical follow-up data as the ‘gold standard’. RESULTSIn the patient-based analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of F-FDG PET/CT in the detection of disease recurrence were calculated as 97 and 61%, respectively. A statistically significant difference was found in frequencies of positive and negative F-FDG PET/CT findings between patients with or without recurrent disease by gold standard (P