Diagnostic imaging methods in the staging of patients with lung cancer for evaluation dissemination of disease in the abdomen
<p><strong>Background:</strong> Most patients with lung cancer have advanced disease at presentation. An accurate assessment of the extent of disease is critical to determine whether the patient is treated with surgical resection, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Slovenian Medical Association
2007-06-01
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| Series: | Zdravniški Vestnik |
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| Online Access: | http://vestnik.szd.si/index.php/ZdravVest/article/view/1790 |
| Summary: | <p><strong>Background:</strong> Most patients with lung cancer have advanced disease at presentation. An accurate assessment of the extent of disease is critical to determine whether the patient is treated with surgical resection, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these modalities. Evaluation of extra thoracic extension should be performed routinely in all patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer to prevent many unnecessary thoracotomies.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> CT of the upper abdomen is the standard imaging modality used for the radiological staging of the disease in the abdomen. Ultrasonography (US) of the abdomen is also widely used. Both methods proved to be complementary. From our experiences the contribution of both methods in the evaluation and treatment of lung cancer patients has proved to be comparable. Even though the primary impact of positron emission tomography (PET) is in the extra thoracic staging and the method has been approved for staging of patients with lung cancer in the United States, there is still confusion about the appropriate place of PET imaging among the array of available staging tests. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) should be reserved for special situations.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1318-0347 1581-0224 |