BACKGROUND: The goal of posttreatment follow-up for medullary and anaplastic thyroid cancer (MTC and ATC) is the early diagnosis of recurrence or metastases. However, routine follow-up protocols, including physical examination and clinically oriented investigations, are not standardized, and their sensitivity in accurately detecting recurrent or metastatic disease is often suboptimal. A valuable addition to posttreatment follow-up of oncology patients is positron emission tomography using fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET). METHODS: We review the role of FDG-PET imaging in the follow-up of patients previously treated for MTC and ATC. RESULTS: Based on the encouraging literature data, FDG-PET appears to be useful in detecting recurrent or metastatic disease in patients with MTC and ATC, providing a higher sensitivity (66% to 100%) and specificity (79% to 90%) than conventional imaging methods. However, the PET technique is limited by less accurate spatial assignment of small lesions, especially in the lung and liver. CONCLUSIONS: Supporting evidence indicates that FDG-PET has a significant role in the follow-up of patients with MTC and ATC.
BACKGROUND: The goal of posttreatment follow-up for medullary and anaplastic thyroid cancer (MTC and ATC) is the early diagnosis of recurrence or metastases. However, routine follow-up protocols, including physical examination and clinically oriented investigations, are not standardized, and their sensitivity in accurately detecting recurrent or metastatic disease is often suboptimal. A valuable addition to posttreatment follow-up of oncology patients is positron emission tomography using fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET). METHODS: We review the role of FDG-PET imaging in the follow-up of patients previously treated for MTC and ATC. RESULTS: Based on the encouraging literature data, FDG-PET appears to be useful in detecting recurrent or metastatic disease in patients with MTC and ATC, providing a higher sensitivity (66% to 100%) and specificity (79% to 90%) than conventional imaging methods. However, the PET technique is limited by less accurate spatial assignment of small lesions, especially in the lung and liver. CONCLUSIONS: Supporting evidence indicates that FDG-PET has a significant role in the follow-up of patients with MTC and ATC.
Authors: Thomas Poisson; Désirée Deandreis; Sophie Leboulleux; François Bidault; Guillaume Bonniaud; Sylvain Baillot; Anne Aupérin; Abir Al Ghuzlan; Jean-Paul Travagli; Jean Lumbroso; Eric Baudin; Martin Schlumberger Journal: Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging Date: 2010-08-06 Impact factor: 9.236
Authors: Keith C Bible; Electron Kebebew; James Brierley; Juan P Brito; Maria E Cabanillas; Thomas J Clark; Antonio Di Cristofano; Robert Foote; Thomas Giordano; Jan Kasperbauer; Kate Newbold; Yuri E Nikiforov; Gregory Randolph; M Sara Rosenthal; Anna M Sawka; Manisha Shah; Ashok Shaha; Robert Smallridge; Carol K Wong-Clark Journal: Thyroid Date: 2021-03 Impact factor: 6.568