• Priya Bhosale, Silanath Peungjesada, Wei Wei, Charles F Levenback, Kathleen Schmeler, Eric Rohren, Homer A Macapinlac, and Revathy B Iyer.
• Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Priya.bhosale@di.mdacc.tmc.edu
• Int. J. Gynecol. Cancer. 2010 Aug 1; 20 (6): 936-44.

ObjectivesThis study was conducted to estimate the accuracy of [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) as compared with contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) in detecting cancer in patients who have normal cancer antigen (CA)-125 (<35 U/dL) but are suspected of having a recurrent disease based on clinical symptoms.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who had undergone primary cytoreductive surgery and subsequently underwent CECT and FDG-PET/CT for suspected recurrence. [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography and CECT interpretation to evaluate a recurrent disease was carried out independently by 2 experienced radiologists who were blinded to the final diagnosis for the suspected recurrence. Long-term follow-up imaging (12 months) and biopsy reports were used to assess the true status of the suspected recurrence seen on FDG-PET/CT or CECT. Sensitivity and specificity of all modalities were estimated. McNemar test was used to compare pairs of modalities. All tests were 2-sided, and P < or = 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsSixty-six patients met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in our analysis. Fifty-eight percent (18/31) and 54% (17/31) of the patients with normal CA-125 levels had evidence of a recurrent disease on FDG-PET/CT and CECT, respectively. Thirty-one percent (6/19) of the patients with no indication of cancer on CECT had evidence of disease on FDG-PET/CT images, which was supported by pathological proof.Conclusion[18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography is capable of detecting ovarian cancer recurrence in symptomatic patients with normal CA-125 levels and, in this setting, has slightly better sensitivity than CECT and can be considered as the frontline modality for all such patients.

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