Added value of PET/CT in Staging and Follow up of Bronchogenic Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Among the most frequent causes of cancer-related mortality is bronchogenic carcinoma. Radiological imaging is essential for prognosis prediction and therapy planning. PET/CT greatly improves management approach and offer more accurate staging and follow up. The study&#039;s objective is to assess PET/CT impact on lung cancer restaging and follow up. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 48 cases of pathologically confirmed bronchogenic carcinoma incorporated for staging and follow-up after therapy. Every patient had PET/CT, and the data was analyzed using TNM staging also RECIST and PERCIST criteria used for treatment response assessment. Results: PET/CT resulted in modification in TNM staging for 16 patients and 12 patients showed various surgical staging. In follow up group, ten cases had differences between RECIST and PERCIST results with the majority of them (6 cases) displayed alteration from partial response to stable response. When pre- and post-treatment SUVs in responder and non-responder groups were compared, it was found that responder group&#039;s post-treatment SUV was significantly lower than baseline SUV (P<0.001). With an AUC of 0.948, P value <0.001, and at a cutoff value of ≤9, we discovered that post-treatment SUV can successfully distinguish responders from non-responders with 100% sensitivity, 63.64% specificity, 76.55% PPV, and 100% NPV and ∆ SUV can distinguish with 100% sensitivity and 54.55% specificity. Conclusion: PET/CT was found to be reliable and efficient in assessment of tumor, nodal and metastatic staging leading to significant impact on TNM staging of bronchogenic carcinoma and provide a more comprehensive and functional therapy assessment.