Gastric distension by ingesting food is useful in the evaluation of primary gastric cancer by FDG PET.

Gastric carcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Detection and surgical resection of gastric cancer in the early stage provides the only hope for improved survival in patients with gastric cancer. Positron emission tomography (PET) with F-18 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) has been shown to be essential in the evaluation of a variety of malignancies. However, conventional FDG PET has limited value for detecting a primary tumor of the stomach, mostly because of the relatively high levels of physiological uptake by the contracted stomach. We report 3 cases of primary gastric carcinomas detected successfully by FDG PET after the ingestion of food. The PET images of the stomach after ingesting food were compared with the routine fasting-state whole-body PET images for each patient. When the stomach was distended by food, the malignant lesions were more discernible. These cases indicate that gastric distension by ingesting food may be a simple method that can help to detect a primary gastric malignancy by FDG PET.