Value of 18F-FDG dual-head coincidence imaging in the diagnosis of recurrent and metastatic oesophageal carcinoma

Objective: To explore the value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) dual-head coincidence imaging in the diagnosis of recurrent and metastatic oesophageal carcinoma. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma suspected metastasis clinically after radical oesophagectomy were studied. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of dual-head coincidence imaging in detecting recurrence and metastasis were analysed and compared with CT. Results: There were 19 true positive cases, 6 true negative cases, 2 false positive cases and 2 false negative cases in 29 postoperative patients detected by 18F-FDG dual-head coincidence imaging. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 90.5% (19/ 21 ), 75.0% (6/8) and 86.2% (25/29) , while the results by CT were 71.4% (15/21 ), 87.5% (7/8) and 75.9% (22/29) respectively. In 13 patients who were positive detected both by CT and 18F-FDG, there were more lesions detected by 18F-FDG than CT. The lesions detected were focal recurrence (rt = 2) , supraclavicular, mediastinal, hilar lymph node (n=3) and bone metastases (n=3). Conclusions: 18F- FDG dual-head coincidence imaging has more clinical value than CT in the diagnosis of recurrent and meta- static oesophageal carcinoma. It is valuable especially in patients with suspected recurrence or metastasis clinically and with negative conventional imaging results. (authors)