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Diagnostic accuracy of 18 F‐ FDG ‐ PET / CT in early and late stages of high‐risk cutaneous malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
Gellén E.,
Sántha O.,
Janka E.,
Juhász I.,
Péter Z.,
Erdei I.,
Lukács R.,
Fedinecz N.,
Galuska L.,
Remenyik É.,
Emri G.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/jdv.13084
Subject(s) - medicine , stage (stratigraphy) , positron emission tomography , melanoma , radiology , lesion , lymph node , lung cancer , nuclear medicine , pet ct , fluorodeoxyglucose , surgery , pathology , paleontology , cancer research , biology
Background The precise role of total body 18 F‐fluorodeoxyglucose‐positron emission tomography/computed tomography ( PET / CT ) in the clinical management of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma ( CMM ) is not well established. Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of PET / CT in early‐ and late‐stage patients with high‐risk CMM . Methods We retrospectively analysed various imaging, histopathological and clinical data from 97 patients also examined by PET / CT during a 5‐year period (2007–2011). Three groups were assessed: stage I/ II , resected stage III and unresectable stage III /stage IV . Results The median follow‐up time of living patients was 43.48 ± 19.67 (15–142) months. We observed a high diagnostic accuracy in all stages (91.3%, 92.5% and 96.2% respectively). PET / CT appeared to be reliable diagnostic tool even for the detection of small lymph node metastases. PET / CT was informative in 14 of 19 cases wherein another imaging examination provided inconclusive results regarding lesion dignity. However, PET / CT was less suitable for properly evaluating the dignity of a lung lesion. A true positive scan was twice as likely in clinically negative patients with resected stage III disease than in patients with stage I/ II disease (35.9% and 14.5%, P = 0.007). Conclusions These results confirm that PET / CT is an important diagnostic tool in the management of patients with high‐risk CMM , but it cannot replace the standard of care examinations. More accurate clinicopathological and timing criteria must be defined to best utilize the advantages of this imaging method.