Background: Since 18-Fluorodeoxyglucose (18 F-FDG) provides functional information about the body's rate of glucose metabolism, positron emission tomography / Computed tomography (PET/CT) is a good method to detect, stage, and therapeutically monitor many different types of cancer.
Objective: To evaluate the relative merits of 18F-FDG PET, CT, and combined PET/CT for identifying and defining vertebral lesions in cancer patients.
Methodology: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on 40 patients with cancer confirmed by biopsy. During the study period from September 2020 to December 2021, every patient at the Nasser institute hospital for research and treatment - cancer center had CT, and PET/CT scan performed for the whole body.
Results: PET/CT scan showed high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy than CT. 18F-FDG. PET/CT has clinical impact on management in 45.8% of patients by up-staging 8/24 and down-staging 3/24 patients. 18F-FDG PET/CT affects management in (23%) of patients by down-staging 3/13 patients.
Conclusion: 18F-FDG PET/CT may detect osseous metastases. Co-registration of PET and CT images with a combined PET/CT scanner increases sensitivity and specificity.