Combined positron emission tomography-computed tomography and tumor markers for detecting recurrent ovarian cancer

To evaluate the accuracy of integrated FDG-PET/CT and tumor markers for the depiction of recurrent ovarian carcinoma.

Patients with pathologically proven ovarian cancer, who underwent cytoreductive surgery and 3-6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy, were included in this study. They all underwent a thorough physical examination, tumor marker determination, and FDG-PET/CT imaging. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values for the tumor detection with PET/CT versus different tumor markers were performed in relation to the results at histological analysis after second-look surgery or clinical follow-up.

A total of 37 patients underwent FDG-PET/CT scans. Among them, 22 patients underwent exploratory laparotomy and 15 had diagnostic laparoscopy. Overall, 24 patients were documented to have ovarian cancer recurrence after second operation. FDG-PET/CT had sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of 100, 85, 94, 92, and 100%, respectively.

Our study has shown that PET/CT is a sensitive tool to assist in the early identification and recurrent ovarian cancer, amenable to secondary cytoreduction.