PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - J.F. Vansteenkiste
AU  - S.G. Stroobants
TI  - The role of positron emission tomography with <sup>18</sup>F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose in respiratory oncology
AID  - 10.1183/09031936.01.17408020
DP  - 2001 Apr 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 802--820
VI  - 17
IP  - 4
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/17/4/802.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/17/4/802.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2001 Apr 01; 17
AB  - In the past 5 yrs, positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) has become an important imaging modality in lung cancer patients. At this time, the indication of FDG-PET as a complimentary tool to computed tomography in the diagnosis and staging of non-small cell lung cancer has gradually gained more widespread acceptance and also reimbursement in many European countries.This review focuses on the data of FDG-PET in the diagnosis of lung nodules and masses, and in locoregional and extrathoracic staging of non-small cell lung cancer. Emphasis is put on the potential clinical implementation of the currently available FDG-PET data. The use of FDG-PET in these indications now needs further validation in large-scale multicentre randomized studies, focusing mainly on treatment outcome parameters, survival and cost-efficacy.Interesting findings with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose-positron emission tomography have also been reported for the evaluation of response to radio- or chemotherapy, in radiotherapy planning, recurrence detection and assessment of prognosis. Finally, a whole new field of application of positron emission tomography in molecular biology, using new radiopharmaceuticals, is under extensive investigation.This data was presented in part in the review-of-the-decade lecture at the 2000 Florence meeting of the European Respiratory Society