The Impact of PET on the Management of Lung Cancer: The Referring Physician’s Perspective

Article Figures & Data

TABLE 1

Specialty of Referring Physicians

TABLE 2

Influence of PET on Clinical Stage

Effect	UCLA Medical Center (n = 133)	NCPIC (n = 141)	P	Total (n = 274)
Upstaged	31 (23)	48 (34)	0.07	79 (29)
Downstaged	17 (13)	25 (18)	0.34	42 (15)
No change in stage	80 (60)	59 (42)	0.004	139 (51)
Question not answered	5 (4)	9 (6)	0.48	14 (5)

Probability value indicates difference in distribution of stage changes between referring physicians at the 2 institutions. Values in parentheses are percentages.

TABLE 3

Specific Intermodality Management Changes Resulting from PET

Change	UCLA Medical Center (n = 133)	NCPIC (n = 141)	Total (n = 274)
Intermodality*	44 (33.1)	64 (45.4)	108 (39.4)
Surgery to medical	15 (11.3)	13 (9.2)	28 (10.2)
Surgery to radiation	3 (2.3)	1 (0.7)	4 (1.5)
Surgery to no treatment	5 (3.8)	10 (7.1)	15 (5.5)
Medical to surgery	6 (4.5)	8 (5.7)	14 (5.1)
Medical to radiation	1 (0.8)	4 (2.8)	5 (1.8)
Medical to no treatment	2 (1.5)	3 (2.1)	5 (1.8)
Radiation to surgery	1 (0.8)	3 (2.1)	4 (1.5)
Radiation to medical	0 (0)	3 (2.1)	3 (1.1)
Radiation to no treatment	0 (0)	2 (1.4)	2 (0.7)
No treatment to surgery	2 (1.5)	3 (2.1)	5 (1.8)
No treatment to medical	5 (3.8)	3 (2.1)	8 (2.9)
No treatment to radiation	2 (1.5)	0 (0)	2 (0.7)
Combination of changes	2 (1.5)	11 (7.8)	13 (4.7)
Intramodality^†	16 (12.0)	25 (17.7)	41 (15.0)
Change in surgical approach	7 (5.3)	13 (9.2)	20 (7.3)
Change in medical approach	8 (6.0)	7 (5.0)	15 (5.5)
Change in radiation approach	1 (0.8)	5 (3.5)	6 (2.2)
Combination of inter- and intramodality^‡	1 (0.8)	4 (2.8)	5 (1.8)
None^§	64 (48.1)	38 (27.0)	102 (37.2)
Other/not specified	8 (6.0)	7 (5.0)	15 (5.5)
Question not answered	0 (0)	3 (2.1)	3 (1.1)