PET/CT in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease in pediatric patients: a review

The literature on positron emission tomography and computed tomography using (18)fluoro-deoxyglusose (FDG-PET/CT) in the diagnosis of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is presented. Only five papers representing independent studies were identified and included in this review. Of these, two studies dealt with both stand-alone FDG-PET and FDG-PET/CT, while three were about stand-alone FDG-PET only. No studies could be found that focused on FDG-PET/CT only. The five studies comprised analysis of a total 181 pediatric patients (0-18 years of age). They unanimously indicated that FDG-PET/CT is a versatile method with a diagnostic high sensitivity ranging from 70% to 97%. In conclusion, the pediatric literature on FGD-PET/CT's role in the diagnosis of IBD is very limited. Prospective studies of well characterized populations are needed in order to validate this novel imaging modality in pediatric IBD.