Background: Gastrointestinal tract tumors are a major cause of cancer related morbidity and mortality, and imaging plays a crucial role in managing them. Hybrid imaging, such as PET/CT, combines functional and anatomical datasets, improving sensitivity and specificity for preoperative staging and monitoring response to therapy.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of PET-CT in assessment and follow up of cases with gastrointestinal tract malignancies.
Patients and methods: This prospective study compared the specificity and sensitivity of PET-CT to computed tomography in the diagnosis and staging of 59 patients with pathologically proven gastrointestinal tract cancers. We injected 18F-FDG intravenously sixty minutes before imaging, and then we reviewed the images in the trans-axial, coronal, and sagittal planes.
Results: 59 patients with mean age 58.15±12.78, 61.3% were males while 38.7% were females. The diagnostic methods showed a high sensitivity of 83.33% and a specificity of 60%. The most common cancer diagnosis was oesophagus cancer, affecting 40.3% of participants, followed by colon cancer, stomach cancer, and rectum cancer, affecting 25.7%, 24.1%, and 8.1% respectively. The study found that 28 participants (47.5%) were deceased, while 51.5% remained alive, with a mean follow-up duration of 17.23 months. The study found that 37 participants experienced relapse, while 22 participants achieved remission.
Conclusion: PET/CT imaging plays a crucial role in the assessment and follow-up of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) malignancies, offering significant advantages over conventional imaging techniques such as CT and MRI.