[18FDG-PET applications in thoracic oncology]

PositIon emission tomography using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) is an imaging technique based on metabolic criteria rather than morphological criteria. We discuss the contribution of this technique in the field of pulmonary oncology and we summarize our work which has demonstrated the performance capacity of PET: to discriminate the malignant nature of a solitary pulmonary nodule; to improve sensitivity over CT for mediastinal assessment in non-small cell lung cancer; to seRach for distant metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer; to complement CT imaging to better dissociate tumor residue or recurrence from post-therapeutic sequelae in non-small cell lung cancer. Finally, we present different expected progress for the future.