Clinical Radiology
Volume 64, Issue 3 , Pages 225-237 , March 2009

Established, emerging and future roles of PET/CT in the management of colorectal cancer

  • R.A. Herbertson

      Affiliations

    • Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationGuarantor and correspondent: R.A. Herbertson, Tumour Targeting Research Fellow, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences, 1st Floor, Harold Stokes Building, Austin Hospital, 145 Studley Road, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia. Tel.: +61-394963098.
    • ,
  • A.F. Scarsbrook

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, St James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK
    • ,
  • S.T. Lee

      Affiliations

    • Centre for PET
    • ,
  • N. Tebbutt

      Affiliations

    • Ludwig Institute Oncology Unit, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
    • ,
  • A.M. Scott

      Affiliations

    • Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
    • Centre for PET

Received 11 April 2008 ,Revised 5 August 2008 ,Accepted 7 August 2008.

References 

  1. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence . Improving outcomes in colorectal cancers. 2004;Available from: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=ourguidance[accessed 05.04.08]
  2. Department of Health . A framework for the development of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) services in England. 2005;Available from: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4121029[accessed 05.04.08]
  3. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence . Lung cancer: nice guidance. 2005;Available from: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o = cg024niceguideline[accessed 05.04.08]
  4. Department of Health Press Release. 15th November 2007;Available from: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=330913&;NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False[accessed 05/04/08]
  5. Cancer Research UK . UK bowel cancer statistics. Available from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/bowel
  6. Office for National Statistics . Cancer registrations in England. 2005;Available from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=7720
  7. Hayne D, Brown RSD, McCormack M, et al. Current trends in colorectal cancer: site, incidence, mortality and survival in England and Wales. Clin Oncol. 2001;13:448–452
  8. Berrino F, De Angelis R, Sant M, et al. Survival for eight major cancers and all cancers combined for European adults diagnosed in 1995–99: results of the EUROCARE-4 study. Lancet Oncol. 2007;8:773–783
  9. Verdecchia A, Francisci S, Brenner H, et al. Recent cancer survival in Europe: a 2000–02 period analysis of EUROCARE-4 data. Lancet Oncol. 2007;8:784–796
  10. Gatta G, Capocaccia R, Sant M, et al. Understanding variations in survival for colorectal cancer in Europe: a EUROCARE high resolution study. Gut. 2000;47:533–538
  11. Hurwitz H, Fehrenbacher L, Novotny W, et al. Bevacizumab plus irinotecan, fluorouracil, and leucovorin for metastatic colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:2335–2342
  12. Choti MA, Sitzmann JV, Tiburi MF, et al. Trends in long-term survival following liver resection for hepatic colorectal metastases. Ann Surg. 2002;235:759–766
  13. Scott AM. Current status of positron emission tomography in oncology. Intern Med J. 2001;31:27–36
  14. Bar-Shalom R, Yefremov N, Guralnik L, et al. Clinical performance of PET/CT in evaluation of cancer: additional value for diagnostic imaging and patient management. J Nucl Med. 2003;44:1200–1209
  15. Even-Sapir E, Parag Y, Lerman H, et al. Detection of recurrence in patients with rectal cancer: PET/CT after abdominoperineal or anterior resection. Radiology. 2004;232:815–822
  16. Glimelius B. Rectal cancer: ESMO clinical recommendations for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2007;18(Suppl. 2):ii23–ii24
  17. Blomqvist L, Rubio C, Holm T, et al. Rectal adenocarcinoma: assessment of tumour involvement of the lateral resection margin by MRI of resected specimen. Br J Radiol. 1999;72:18–23
  18. Brown G, Richards CJ, Newcombe RG, et al. Rectal carcinoma: thin-section MR imaging for staging in 28 patients. Radiology. 1999;211:215–222
  19. Hulsmans FJ, Tio TL, Fockens P, et al. Assessment of tumor infiltration depth in rectal cancer with transrectal sonography: caution is necessary. Radiology. 1994;190:715–720
  20. Urban M, Rosen HR, Holbling N, et al. MR imaging for the preoperative planning of sphincter-saving surgery for tumors of the lower third of the rectum: use of intravenous and endorectal contrast materials. Radiology. 2000;214:503–508
  21. Heriot AG, Hicks RJ, Drummond EG, et al. Preoperative staging of rectal carcinoma. Br J Surg. 1999;86:17–28
  22. Kim NK, Kim MJ, Yun SH, et al. Comparative study of transrectal ultrasonography, pelvic computerized tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging in preoperative staging of rectal cancer. Dis Colon Rectum. 1999;42:770–775
  23. Blomqvist L, Machado M, Rubio C, et al. Rectal tumour staging: MR imaging using pelvic phased-array and endorectal coils vs endoscopic ultrasonography. Eur Radiol. 2000;10:653–660
  24. Bipat S, Glas AS, Slors FJM, et al. Rectal cancer: local staging and assessment of lymph node involvement with endoluminal US, CT, and MR imaging—a meta-analysis. Radiology. 2004;232:773–783
  25. Guillem JG, Diaz-Gonzalez JA, Minsky BD, et al. cT3N0 rectal cancer: potential overtreatment with preoperative chemoradiotherapy is warranted. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:368–373
  26. Heriot AG, Hicks RJ, Drummond EG, et al. Does positron emission tomography change management in primary rectal cancer? A prospective assessment. Dis Colon Rectum. 2004;47:451–458
  27. Heald RJ, Ryall RD. Recurrence and survival after total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer. Lancet. 1986;1:1479–1482
  28. MacFarlane JK, Ryall RD, Heald RJ. Mesorectal excision for rectal cancer. Lancet. 1993;341:457–460
  29. Takahashi T, Ueno M, Azekura K, et al. Lateral node dissection and total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer. Dis Colon Rectum. 2000;43(Suppl. 10):S59–S68
  30. Gearhart SL, Frassica D, Rosen R, et al. Improved staging with pretreatment positron emission tomography/computed tomography in low rectal cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2006;13:397–404
  31. Rosen LS, Bilchik AJ, Beart RW. Jr., et al. New approaches to assessing and treating early-stage colon and rectal cancer: summary statement from 2007 Santa Monica Conference. Clin Cancer Res. 2007;13:6853s–6856s
  32. Kapiteijn E, Marijnen CAM, Nagtegaal ID, et al. the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group. Preoperative radiotherapy combined with total mesorectal excision for resectable rectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 2001;345:638–646
  33. Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group . Prolongation of the disease-free interval in surgically treated rectal carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 1985;312:1465–1472
  34. Kachnic LA, Hong TS, Ryan DP. Rectal cancer at the crossroads: the dilemma of clinically staged T3, N0, M0 disease. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:350–351
  35. Swedish Rectal Cancer Trial . Improved survival with preoperative radiotherapy in resectable rectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:980–987
  36. Holm T, Rutqvist LE, Johansson H, et al. Postoperative mortality in rectal cancer treated with or without preoperative radiotherapy: causes and risk factors. Br J Surg. 1996;83:964–968
  37. Pollack J, Holm T, Cedermark B, et al. Late adverse effects of short-course preoperative radiotherapy in rectal cancer. Br J Surg. 2006;93:1519–1525
  38. Peeters KCMJ, van de Velde CJH, Leer JWH, et al. Late side effects of short-course preoperative radiotherapy combined with total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: increased bowel dysfunction in irradiated patients—a Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group Study. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:6199–6206
  39. Sauer R, Fietkau R, Wittekind C, et al. Adjuvant vs. neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer: the German trial CAO/ARO/AIO-94. Colorectal Dis. 2003;5:406–415
  40. Llamas-Elvira JM, Rodriguez-Fernandez A, Gutierrez-Sainz J, et al. Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET in the preoperative staging of colorectal cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2007;34:859–867
  41. Gambhir SS, Czernin J, Schwimmer J, et al. A tabulated summary of the FDG PET literature. J Nucl Med. 2001;42:1S–93
  42. Veit-Haibach P, Kuehle CA, Beyer T, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of colorectal cancer staging with whole-body PET/CT colonography. JAMA. 2006;296:2590–2600
  43. Veit P, Kuhle C, Beyer T, et al. Whole body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) tumour staging with integrated PET/CT colonography: technical feasibility and first experiences in patients with colorectal cancer. Gut. 2006;55:68–73
  44. Wiering B, Krabbe PF, Jager GJ, et al. The impact of fluor-18-deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography in the management of colorectal liver metastases. Cancer. 2005;104:2658–2670
  45. Bipat S, van Leeuwen MS, Comans EF, et al. Colorectal liver metastases: CT, MR imaging, and PET for diagnosis—meta-analysis. Radiology. 2005;237:123–131
  46. Kong G, Jackson C, Koh DM, et al. The use of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in colorectal liver metastases—comparison with CT and liver MRI. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2008;35:1323–1329
  47. Scott AM, Gunawardana D, Kelly B, et al. 18F-FDG PET changes management and improves prognostic stratification in patients with colorectal cancer: results of a prospective, multi-centre study. J Clin Oncol. 2007;25(Suppl.):169s
  48. Ruers TJ, Langenhoff BS, Neeleman N, et al. Value of positron emission tomography with [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose in patients with colorectal liver metastases: a prospective study. J Clin Oncol. 2002;20:388–395
  49. Gregoire V, Haustermans K, Geets X, et al. PET-based treatment planning in radiotherapy: a new standard?. J Nucl Med. 2007;48(Suppl. 1):68S–77S
  50. Bassi MC, Turri L, Sacchetti G, et al. FDG-PET/CT imaging for staging and target volume delineation in preoperative conformal radiotherapy of rectal cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2007;
  51. Dizendorf EV, Baumert BG, von Schulthess GK, et al. Impact of whole-body 18F-FDG PET on staging and managing patients for radiation therapy. J Nucl Med. 2003;44:24–29
  52. van Baardwijk A, Baumert BG, Bosmans G, et al. The current status of FDG-PET in tumour volume definition in radiotherapy treatment planning. Cancer Treat Rev. 2006;32:245–260
  53. Ciernik IF, Dizendorf E, Baumert BG, et al. Radiation treatment planning with an integrated positron emission and computer tomography (PET/CT): a feasibility study. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2003;57:853–863
  54. Denecke T, Rau B, Hoffmann KT, et al. Comparison of CT, MRI and FDG-PET in response prediction of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer after multimodal preoperative therapy: is there a benefit in using functional imaging?. Eur Radiol. 2005;15:1658–1666
  55. Melton G, Lavely W, Jacene H, et al. Efficacy of preoperative combined 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and computed tomography for assessing primary rectal cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy. J Gastrointest Surg. 2007;11:961–969
  56. Guillem JG, Moore HG, Akhurst T, et al. Sequential preoperative fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography assessment of response to preoperative chemoradiation: a means for determining longterm outcomes of rectal cancer. J Am Coll Surg. 2004;199:1–7
  57. Calvo F, Domper M, Matute R, et al. 18F-FDG positron emission tomography staging and restaging in rectal cancer treated with preoperative chemoradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004;58:528–535
  58. Capirci C, Rampin L, Erba PA, et al. Sequential FDG-PET/CT reliably predicts response of locally advanced rectal cancer to neo-adjuvant chemo-radiation therapy. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2007;34:1583–1593
  59. Kristiansen C, Loft A, Berthelsen AK, et al. PET/CT and histopathologic response to preoperative chemoradiation therapy in locally advanced rectal cancer. Dis Colon Rectum. 2008;51:21–25
  60. Langenhoff BS, Oyen WJ, Jager GJ, et al. Efficacy of fluorine-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography in detecting tumor recurrence after local ablative therapy for liver metastases: a prospective study. J Clin Oncol. 2002;20:4453–4458
  61. Khandani AH, Calvo BF, O'Neil BH, et al. A pilot study of early 18F-FDG PET to evaluate the effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation of liver metastases. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2007;189:1199–1202
  62. Travaini L, Trifirò G, Ravasi L, et al. Role of [18F]FDG-PET/CT after radiofrequency ablation of liver metastases: preliminary results. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2008;35:1316–1322
  63. Avril N. 18F-FDG PET after radiofrequency ablation: is timing everything?. J Nucl Med. 2006;47:1235–1237
  64. Bienert M, McCook B, Carr BI, et al. 90Y microsphere treatment of unresectable liver metastases: changes in 18F-FDG uptake and tumour size on PET/CT. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2005;32:778–787
  65. Therasse P, Arbuck SG, Eisenhauer EA, et al. New guidelines to evaluate the response to treatment in solid tumors. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, National Cancer Institute of the United States, National Cancer Institute of Canada. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2000;92:205–216
  66. de Geus-Oei L-F, van der Heijden HFM, Visser EP, et al. Chemotherapy response evaluation with 18F-FDG PET in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. J Nucl Med. 2007;48:1592–1598
  67. Weber WA, Petersen V, Schmidt B, et al. Positron emission tomography in non-small-cell lung cancer: prediction of response to chemotherapy by quantitative assessment of glucose use. J Clin Oncol. 2003;21:2651–2657
  68. Spaepen K, Stroobants S, Dupont P, et al. Early restaging positron emission tomography with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose predicts outcome in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ann Oncol. 2002;13:1356–1363
  69. de Geus-Oei LF, van Laarhoven HWM, Visser EP, et al. Chemotherapy response evaluation with FDG PET in patients with colorectal cancer. Ann Oncol. 2007;mdm470
  70. Inoue M, Ohta M, Iuchi K, et al. Benefits of surgery for patients with pulmonary metastases from colorectal carcinoma. Ann Thorac Surg. 2004;78:238–244
  71. Arulampalam T, Costa D, Visvikis D, et al. The impact of FDG-PET on the management algorithm for recurrent colorectal cancer. Eur J Nucl Med. 2001;28:1758–1765
  72. Selzner M, Hany TF, Wildbrett P, et al. Does the novel PET/CT imaging modality impact on the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer of the liver?. Ann Surg. 2004;240:1027–1034discussion 1035–1036
  73. Vogel W, Wiering B, Corstens F, et al. Colorectal cancer: the role of PET/CT in recurrence. Cancer Imaging. 2005;5(Suppl.):S143–S149
  74. Huebner RH, Park KC, Shepherd JE, et al. A meta-analysis of the literature for whole-body FDG PET detection of recurrent colorectal cancer. J Nucl Med. 2000;41:1177–1189
  75. Soyka JD, Veit-Haibach P, Strobel K, et al. Staging pathways in recurrent colorectal carcinoma: is contrast-enhanced 18F-FDG PET/CT the diagnostic tool of choice?. J Nucl Med. 2008;49:354–361
  76. Votrubova J, Belohlavek O, Jaruskova M, et al. The role of FDG-PET/CT in the detection of recurrent colorectal cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2006;33:779–784
  77. Francis DL, Freeman A, Visvikis D, et al. In vivo imaging of cellular proliferation in colorectal cancer using positron emission tomography. Gut. 2003;52:1602–1606
  78. Wieder HA, Geinitz H, Rosenberg R, et al. PET imaging with [18F]3'-deoxy-3'-fluorothymidine for prediction of response to neoadjuvant treatment in patients with rectal cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2007;34:878–883
  79. Cook GJR. Oncological molecular imaging: nuclear medicine techniques. Br J Radiol. 2003;76(Suppl. 2):S152–S158
  80. Weber WA. Positron emission tomography as an imaging biomarker. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:3282–3292
  81. Laking GR, West C, Buckley DL, et al. Imaging vascular physiology to monitor cancer treatment. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2006;58:95–113
  82. Cher LM, Murone C, Lawrentschuk N, et al. Correlation of hypoxic cell fraction and angiogenesis with glucose metabolic rate in gliomas using 18F-fluoromisonidazole, 18F-FDG PET, and immunohistochemical studies. J Nucl Med. 2006;47:410–418
  83. Zhang X, Xiong Z, Wu Y, et al. Quantitative PET imaging of tumor integrin αvβ3 expression with 18F-FRGD2. J Nucl Med. 2006;47:113–121
  84. Lejeune C, Bismuth MJ, Conroy T, et al. Use of a decision analysis model to assess the cost-effectiveness of 18F-FDG PET in the management of metachronous liver metastases of colorectal cancer. J Nucl Med. 2005;46:2020–2028
  85. Zubeldia JM, Bednarczyk EM, Baker JG, et al. The economic impact of 18FDG positron emission tomography in the surgical management of colorectal cancer with hepatic metastases. Cancer Biother Radiopharm. 2005;20:450–456
  86. Bedford M, Maisey M. Requirements for clinical PET: comparisons within Europe. Eur J Nuclear Med Mol Imaging. 2004;31:208
  87. The Royal College of Radologists . PET-CT in the UK. A strategy for development and integration of a leading edge technology within routine clinical practice. August 2005;Available from: http://www.rcr.ac.uk/docs/general/pdf/PETCT_final.pdf

PII: S0009-9260(08)00366-8

doi: 10.1016/j.crad.2008.08.008

Clinical Radiology
Volume 64, Issue 3 , Pages 225-237 , March 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution