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Updated: May 19, 2026

Multimodality Diagnosis of Mesenteric Ischemia
Published on: July 21, 2023
Utility of positron emission tomography/CT in the evaluation of small bowel pathology
C G Cronin1, J Scott, A Kambadakone
1Department of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. cgcronin@partners.org
Abstract:
We describe the management principles and different roles of positron emission tomography (PET)/CT in the evaluation of patients with small bowel tumours (adenocarcinoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumour, lymphoma, metastases) from initial staging, monitoring response to treatment, to detection of recurrent disease. We also discuss the various non-malignant aetiologies of small bowel fludeoxyglucose (FDG) PET uptake, and other pitfalls in FDG PET/CT interpretation. Awareness of the imaging appearances of small bowel tumours, patterns of disease spread and potential PET/CT interpretation pitfalls are of paramount importance to optimise diagnostic accuracy.
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