F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography staging in radical radiotherapy candidates with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma: Powerful correlation with survival and high impact on treatment

Abstract

BACKGROUND. Successful treatment of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) with radical radiotherapy (RT) requires accurate delineation of tumor extent. Conventional computed tomography-based noninvasive staging often estimates intrathoracic thoracic tumor extent incorrectly and fails to detect distant metastasis. High sensitivity and specificity are reported for F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) staging in potentially resectable NSCLC. The authors investigated FDG-PET staging in radical RT candidates with unresectable NSCLC. METHODS. The authors prospectively studied 153 consecutive patients with unresectable NSCLC who were candidates for radical RT after conven..