Utility of PET in Gynecological Cancer

부인암에서 양전자방출단층촬영의 이용

Clinical application of positron emission tomography (PET) is rapidly increasing for the detection and staging of cancer at whole-body studios performed with 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG). Although many cancers can be detected by FDG-PET, there has been limited clinical experience with FDG-PET for the defection of gynecological cancers including malignancies in uterus and ovary. FDG-PET can show foci of metastatic disease that may not be apparent at conventional anatomic imaging and can and in the characterization of indeterminate soft-tissue masses. Most gynecological cancers need to surgical management. FDG-PET can improve the selection of patients for surgical treatment and thereby reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with inappropriate surgery. FDG-PET is also useful for the early detection of recurrence and the monitoring of therapeutic effect. In this review, I discuss the clinical feasibility and limitations of this imaging modality in patients with gynecological cancers.