The role of PET in initial work-up and evaluation after therapy in patients with carcinoma of unknown primary

The carcinoma of unknown primary occupied 5 - 10 % of all malignancies. It is heterogenous in origin and has poor prognosis. The indentification of primary site and definition of involved area are more helpful in the management. The efficacy of positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorine-18- fluorodeoxyglucose (F18-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F18-FDG) was evaluated in several tumors such as breast, pancreas and head and neck cancers. In carcinoma of unknown primary, it was reported that the concentration of FDG was increased in tumor tissues, and that PET with F18-FDG may be much helpful in identifying primary site and defining involved area. The authors evaluated the usefulness of PET with F18-FDG in initial work-up and in evaluation after radical therapy for the patients with carcinoma of unknown primary. The visual analysis of FDG-PET would be helpful in identifying primary site and defining involved area. In detecting recurrent of residual lesions, FDG-PET seemed to be less helpful than conventional diagnostic work-up. But more studies with larger number of cases and longer follow-up were required. The results of this study can be bases for the direction of future studies for the usefulness of PET in carcinoma of unknown primary