Article of the week: How useful is FDG-PET/CT in managing carcinoma invading bladder muscle?
Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.
In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.
Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video of Ms Mertens and Prof Horenblas discussing their findings.
If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.
Impact of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) on management of patients with carcinoma invading bladder muscle
Laura S. Mertens, Annemarie Fioole-Bruining*, Erik Vegt†, Wouter V. Vogel†, Bas W. van Rhijn and Simon Horenblas
Departments of Urology, *Radiology and †Nuclear Medicine, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
OBJECTIVE
• To evaluate the clinical impact of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scanning, compared with conventional staging with contrast-enhanced CT imaging (CECT).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
• The FDG-PET/CT results of 96 consecutive patients with bladder cancer were analysed. Patients included in this study underwent standard CECT imaging of the chest and abdomen/pelvis <4 weeks before FDG-PET/CT.
• Based on the original imaging reports and recorded tumour stage before and after FDG-PET/CT imaging, the preferred treatment strategies before FDG-PET/CT and after FDG-PET/CT were determined for each patient using an institutional multidisciplinary guideline. One of the following treatment strategies was chosen: (i) local curative treatment; (ii) neoadjuvant/induction chemotherapy; or (iii) palliation.
• The changes in management decisions before and after FDG-PET/CT were assessed.
RESULTS
• The median (range) interval between CECT and FDG-PET/CT was 0 (029) days.
• In 21.9% of the patients, stage on FDG-PET/CT and CECT were different. Upstaging by FDG-PET/CT was more frequent than downstaging (19.8 vs 2.1%).
• Clinical management changed for 13.5% of patients as a result of FDG-PET/CT upstaging. In eight patients, FDG-PET/CT detected second primary tumours. This led to changes of bladder cancer treatment in another four of 96 patients (4.2%).
• All the management changes were validated by tissue confirmation of the additional lesions.
CONCLUSIONS
• FDG-PET/CT provides important additional staging information, which influences the treatment of carcinoma invading bladder muscle in almost 20% of cases.
• Patient selection for neoadjuvant/induction chemotherapy was improved and futile attempts at curative treatment in patients found to have metastases were avoided.
Read Previous Articles of the Week
