REVIEW ARTICLES  THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
Guest Editors: Freeman L. M., Bombardieri E. 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2002 June;46(2):105-12

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

PET-imaging in tumors of the reproductive tract

Reinhardt M. J., Matthies A., Biersack H. J.

Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany

­There is ­increasing evi­dence ­that meta­bolic ­imaging ­with posi­tron-emis­sion tomog­raphy (PET) ­using ­fluor-18 ­labeled flu­o­rod­e­ox­y­glu­cose (18F FDG) is ­highly accu­rate for in ­vivo detec­tion of a ­variety of malig­nan­cies. ­This ­quality ­gives FDG-PET an impor­tant ­role in the detec­tion of malig­nant ­tumors and ­their metas­tases as ­well as for dif­fe­ren­ti­a­tion of ­tumors of ­unknown eti­ology. In the ­male and ­female repro­duc­tive ­tract, ­whole ­body ­imaging ­with FDG-PET is in par­tic­ular ­capable of vis­u­al­izing lymph­-node and dis­tant metas­tases ­before ­these ­changes ­become ­apparent on con­ven­tional ­cross-sec­tional ­imaging modal­ities. ­According to the inci­dence of ­tumors in the repro­duc­tive ­tract, FDG-PET-­imaging has ­been eval­u­ated in pros­tate ­cancer, ­ovarian ­cancer, cer­vical and tes­tic­ular ­cancer. The ­role of PET is dis­cussed ­with ­respect to the cur­rent man­age­ment of ­patients. The pre­sented ­data indi­cate ­that FDG-PET is ­more accu­rate for ­lymph-­node ­staging in cer­vical ­cancer and tes­tic­ular ­cancer. In ­ovarian ­cancer, FDG-PET may be ­helpful for detec­tion of ­tumor recur­rence. The ­role of FDG-PET is ques­tion­able in pros­tate ­cancer, due to the low meta­bolic ­activity of ­this ­type of ­cancer. ­Carbon-11 ­labeled ace­tate and ­carbon-11 or ­fluor-18 ­labeled cho­line are ­more prom­ising ­than FDG for detec­tion of recur­rence in pros­tate ­cancer. In all ­other ­tumors of the repro­duc­tive ­tract ­there is lim­ited expe­ri­ence ­with PET for a ­final con­clu­sion.