The Evolving Role of Molecular Imaging in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Radiotherapy

Abstract

Molecular imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has dramatically changed the management of patients with lung cancer who are treated with radiotherapy. Uptake of the most widely used PET radiopharmaceutical 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose identifies lung nodules or intrathoracic lymph nodes as likely to be malignant and frequently identifies previously unsuspected sites of malignant disease outside the thorax. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer, especially those with apparently more advanced locoregional disease to start with, are often upstaged, and this has a profound effect on their subsequent management. Better patient selection, primarily by excluding patients with PET-detected a..