Initial Staging of Lung Cancer with FDG PET/CT

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in industrialized nations, regardless of gender. Accurate staging improves patient treatment and prognosis. PET-CT is used extensively in lung cancer initial staging and restaging because it detects nodal and metastatic disease better than other imaging modalities allowing for better planning of surgery, radiotherapy and systemic therapy.

New radiopharmaceuticals in development, e.g. FAPI, may have improved sensitivity for evaluating lung cancers, however its use is still being studied.

PET-CT is cost-effective for lung cancer evaluation. After PET-CT staging, 35% of CT-staged cases had an updated disease stage (typically an upstaged stage), requiring patient management modifications.