Initial evaluation of PET/CT imaging in patients with gallbladder carcinoma detected incidentally during or after cholecystectomy

Primary carcinoma of the gallbladder is a rare malignancy characterized by extremely poor prognosis. Positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT) with the use of F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is one of the most modern methods of a functional and morphological imagining of the entire body or selected organs. The aim of the study was to perform a retrospective evaluation of FDG-PET/CT in patients with gallbladder carcinoma detected incidentally during or after cholecystectomy. Between March 2003 and December 2006 PET/CT was performed in 13 patients (10 women, 3 men; mean age 55.9 yrs) with gallbladder carcinoma detected incidentally during or after cholecystectomy. The PET/CT was performed with a Biograph LSO Simens 60 minutes after the intravenous administration 5 MBq/kg FDG. PET/CT scanning presented lesions f with increased FDG metabolism in 10 patients. We found hepatic metastases in 6 patients, infiltration of the hepatic hilus in 5 patients, uptake at the site of the gallbladder removal in 3 case, postoperative scar metastases in 3 cases, metastatic abdominal nodes in 3 cases, retroperitoneal metastatic lymph nodes in 3 cases and 1 case of omentum metastases. All the diagnoses were true positive. The results were true negative in the remaining 3 patients. PET/CT with use FDG provides diagnostic opportunities in patients with gallbladder carcinoma detected incidentally during or after cholecystectomy. PET/CT scanning may have significant clinical value in the diagnosis of residual gallbladder carcinoma, in the diagnosis and localization of local recurrence of gallbladder carcinoma and in the diagnosis of distant metastases. (author)