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Copyright of Revista Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This review deals with the usefulness of combined 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) imaging for the diagnosis and follow-up of extracranial paediatric tumours. After a discussion of the pathophysiologic biodistribution of 18F-FDG, the main indications for 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in paediatric malignancies are outlined. Moreover, the normal variants of physiologic biodistribution of 18F-FDG and its potential related pitfalls are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastatic cancers of unknown primary origin are characterised by a poor prognosis, with a survival rate from diagnosis of approximately 12 months. Conventional radiological imaging allows detection of 20%–27% of primary cancers, whereas the detection rate with positron emission tomography (PET) is 24%–40%. The aim of this study was to assess the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) in the identification of occult primary cancers. The study population consisted of 38 consecutive patients with histologically proven metastatic disease and negative or nonconclusive conventional diagnostic procedures. All patients were studied by 18F-FDG PET performed according to the standard procedure (6 h of fasting, intravenous injection of 370 MBq 18F-FDG, and image acquisition with a PET/CT scanner for 4 min per bed position). 18F-FDG-PET/CT detected the occult primary cancer in 20 cases (53%), showing higher sensitivity than that reported for any other imaging modality, including PET. The encouraging results, if validated by larger series, support the use of PET/CT in patients with carcinoma of unknown primary origin and negative conventional imaging results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Metastatic cancer of unknown primary origin is a syndrome characterised by a poor prognosis, with a typical survival rate from diagnosis of no longer than 1 year. Only 20-27% of primary tumours are identified by conventional radiological imaging. By contrast, it has been reported that18F- fluorodeoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) allows the identification of 24-40% of otherwise unrecognised primary tumours. To our knowledge, the studies on this topic have been conducted using18F-FDG PET imaging alone. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential additional diagnostic role of fused 18F-FDG PET-CT imaging for the detection of metastatic occult primary tumours. Methods: The study population consisted of 21 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven metastatic disease and negative conventional diagnostic procedures. Each patient underwent a PET scan, carried out according to a standard procedure (6 h of fasting, i.v. injection of 370 MBq of 18FFDG and image acquisition with a dedicated PET-CT scanner for 4 min per bed position). Results:18F-FDG PET-CT detected the occult primary tumour in 12 patients (57% of cases), providing a detection rate higher than that reported with any other imaging modality, including conventional18F-FDG PET. Conclusion: The favourable results of this study need to be confirmed in larger patient populations with long-term follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]