The application of 18F-FDG PET/CT in tumor marker elevated in patients

Objectives To understand the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with tumor marker elevated in serum by retrospective analysis of 51 such patients.

Methods Fifty-one of 4265 patients with tumor marker elevated in serum underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT for cancer screening. The imaging procedure was as regular. And the diagnoses were made by the consensus of not less than two experienced who read the images back-to-back.

Results Fifty-one (1.2%) of 4265 patients with tumor marker elevated in serum underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT for cancer screening including 36 males and 15 females, aged 31-88 years. More than two kinds of tumor markers elevated in 15 cases, CEA elevated in 14 cases, CA199 or CA72.4 elevated in both 9 cases, and CA125 or AFP or NSE or PSA elevated in 1 patient each. 18F-FDG PET/CT was negative in 28 patients (54.9%). And 18F-FDG PET/CT shown positive findings in 20 patients which were confirmed malignant tumors by pathology, including 8 (40%) cases of lung cancer, 6 (30%) cases of colon cancer, 3 (15%) cases of gastric cancer, 2 (10%) cases of prostate cancer, 1 (5%) case of thyroid cancer. 18F-FDG PET/CT shown positive findings in 3 patients which were confirmed benign disease by pathology. Therefore, the diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with tumor marker elevated in serum is as follow: the positive rate was 45.10% (23/51), and the accuracy for cancer screening was 86.96% (20/23) if 18F-FDG PET/CT got positive findings.

Conclusions The positive rate and accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT is much higher for cancer screening in patients with elevated tumor markers, so it is helpful in clinical practice.