NEW YORK, Jul 26 (Reuters Health) - A new technique could improve the
detection of lung cancers that have spread to other parts of the body,
researchers in the Netherlands report. Using the scan could reduce the number of
tests and procedures that lung cancer patients have to undergo, they say.
Dr. Remge Pieterman and colleagues compared the standard method of detecting
cancers throughout the body--which includes computed tomography (CT),
ultrasound, bone scanning, and needle biopsies--to a newer technique called
whole-body positron emission tomography (PET), in 102 patients with lung cancer.
None of the patients had small-cell lung cancer, a form of the disease, which is
more difficult to treat.
They found that PET was able to detect non-small-cell lung cancer and its
spread with more sensitivity than the traditional methods. In 11 of 102
patients, PET detected secondary cancers that had not been found by the standard
method.
"Our study confirms that, as compared with traditional staging methods, PET
can result in a more accurate classification of the stage of disease in patients
with...non-small-cell lung cancer," Pieterman's group writes in the July 27th
issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Although they weren't looking specifically at whether the PET scan improved
the chances of survival for the cancer patients, the researchers suggest that
"the increased accuracy may improve survival."
They recommend that future studies examine survival in these patients. In
the meantime, the researchers note that at present, the procedure is not cost
effective due to the limited availability of the equipment needed to perform the
scan.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr Salvatore Berlangieri and Dr Andrew Scott,
both of Austin and Repatriation Medical Center, Melbourne, Australia note that
many US insurers have approved reimbursement of PET for lung cancer. These
results add to "the accumulating body of evidence that PET...is more accurate
than CT" for lung cancer staging.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in
the US and will claim about 160,000 lives in this year.
