PASADENA, CALIF. — Imaging for gynecologic cancer has been greatly improved with techniques combining structural and anatomic data from ultrasound, MRI, and CT with metabolic clues shown by PET scans, Dr. Robin Farias-Eisner said at a meeting of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Assembly of Southern California.
Prior advances in traditional techniques were “great, but not good enough,” in their sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, said Dr. Farias-Eisner, chief of gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It is in identifying microscopic disease in lymph nodes by depicting anatomy and structure that PET with
In many of his cases, the fused image completes the picture, demonstrating metabolic tumor activity in a precise location. Incorporating FDG-PET into the work-up also provides an evaluation of the whole body and can point to disease in patients whose normal anatomic landmarks have been lost to surgery or radiation.