Added Value of PET-CT in Patients with Metastases of Unknown Primary

Document Type : Original Paper, Oncology

Author

Nuclear Medicine, NEMROCK Center, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the value of PET/CT in metastases of unknown primary. Materials
and methods: prospective analysis of 100 patients, presenting with pathology proved or clinically suspected metastatic lesions of unknown primary, all patients had undergone prior investigations with clinical examination and routine workup with follow up for a period of 3-9 months.Results: PET/CT findings among 100 patients of study group: 64 patients were true positive, 4 patients were false positive, 9 patients were true negative & 23 patients were false negative with sensitivity of 73.6% and specificity of 69.2%. PET-CT detected more additional sites of metastases in 64 patients.
Conclusion: FDG PET/CT is a single modality that has advantage for early detection of the primary tumor site in CUP patients. This facilitates early selection of appropriate treatment protocols that will improve patients' prognosis.

Keywords