PET/MRI compares well with PET/CT for pancreatic cancer staging

Thursday, December 4 | 11:40 a.m.-11:50 a.m. | SSQ06-08 | Room E350

Italian researchers are adding to the evidence that PET/MRI can benefit cancer patients for use in tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging.

Led by Dr. Onofrio Catalano from the University of Naples, this retrospective study included 24 consecutive patients with pancreatic cancer who received whole-body FDG-PET/CT (Gemini TF, Philips Healthcare) and FDG-PET/MRI (Biograph mMR, Siemens Healthcare) on the same day.

The PET/CT and PET/MRI studies were reviewed independently by two readers, who also evaluated TNM staging information from the two hybrid modalities.

Their assessments concluded that PET/MR image quality was adequate for diagnostic purposes in all 24 cases, with 14 pancreatic cancer patients (58%) showing avid FDG lesions. Staging by PET/MRI and PET/CT was concordant for 15 patients (63%).

PET/MRI provides "all the diagnostic benefits of PET/CT in the assessment of pancreatic cancer patients, with the benefits of superior local, hepatic, and nodal staging and accuracy in comparison to PET/CT," Catalano and colleagues concluded.

PET/MRI might be a "very promising and innovative technique for accurate staging and follow up of pancreatic cancer patients," they added.