CT and PET imaging in non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality among both males and females throughout the world. Worldwide, as many as one million people are affected by the disease each year. Within the United States over 170,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed annually and over 150,000 lung cancer deaths will occur. Due to its prevalence, lung cancer has a great impact on health care costs annually, making it a significant public health issue. Appropriate therapy is dependent on accurate staging to determine those amenable to surgery and define the appropriate role for chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In this review, we discuss the impact of computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) with a primary focus on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) on lung cancer evaluation and staging.