[PET-CT interventional tumour therapy]

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Context:

• Multifocal metastatic spread of solid tumors presents significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, often precluding curative surgery.
• Interventional tumor therapies offer a promising alternative for patients with advanced disease.
• Assessing the viability of treated lesions and guiding interventions can be difficult with conventional imaging alone.

Purpose:

• To evaluate the role of combined positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in the management of patients undergoing interventional tumor therapy.
• To explore PET/CT's utility in patient selection, procedural planning, guidance, and post-interventional assessment.
• To highlight the potential of PET/CT in improving the accuracy of treatment response evaluation compared to separate imaging modalities.

Summary:

• PET/CT demonstrates higher sensitivity and specificity, enabling more precise patient selection for interventional tumor therapy.
• The integrated imaging modality aids in planning and guiding interventional procedures, as well as improving post-interventional control.
• PET/CT offers a more accurate assessment of therapeutic success compared to individual computed tomography or positron emission tomography scans.

Impact:

• PET/CT integration into interventional oncology has the potential to optimize treatment strategies for complex metastatic cases.
• Improved imaging guidance and assessment may lead to better therapeutic outcomes and patient management.
• Further studies are required to establish the success rates and long-term survival associated with PET/CT-guided interventional procedures.