Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Adding PET to the diagnostic workup of patients with equivocal lung CT scans can be an excellent way to determine which patients get sent to biopsy, according to a new meta-analysis of PET studies.
PET turned in a good performance for detecting lung cancer in solitary pulmonary nodules, according to a presentation by researchers from Stanford University in Stanford, CA, at last month's International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT. Staff writer Eric Barnes wrote about the presentation for our CT Digital Community.
When a nodule is characterized as suspicious on PET, patients can then be sent for biopsy. If the PET is negative, radiologists can revert to their previous strategy of watchful waiting with follow-up CT scans.
CT and even x-ray still have important roles to play in lung cancer detection due to the high cost of PET. That shouldn't change even with increasing use of the new generation of PET/CT scanners, which will improve PET's performance even more over what was presented in the Stanford study. Click here to read all about it.
In another CT article we're featuring in the community, French researchers are reporting good results using gadolinium-based contrast agents -- the kind normally used in MRI -- with 16-slice CT angiography. The agents could be a good alternative for patients with suspected allergies to iodinated contrast. You can view that story by clicking here.
Read all about these articles, and other news in CT, by visiting our CT Digital Community, at ct.auntminnie.com.
