Annals of nuclear medicine
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Tumor recurrence of colorectal cancers (CRC) is generally followed up by analyses of the serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. However, recent evidence suggests that tumor recurrence can also be visualized by 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) in patients with normal CEA levels. We retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic performance of FDG-PET/CT in patients with suspected recurrence of CRC by comparing PET/CT performance in patients with normal CEA levels with PET/CT performance in patients with elevated CEA levels. ⋯ FDG-PET/CT can accurately detect tumor recurrence in patients with suspected recurrent CRC, even for patients with normal CEA levels.