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PET/CT for the diagnostic assessment of patients with renal cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

We discuss the current role of PET/CT in all phases of disease in RCC, potential advancements in the diagnostic and prognostic work up, including future perspectives regarding novel radiopharmaceuticals agents.

Methods

A comprehensive search strategy was used based on SCOPUS and PubMed databases. From all studies published in English, we selected—for this Expert Review—the most relevant articles evaluating the use of PET/CT for the diagnostic assessment of patients with renal cancer.

Results

The use of PET/CT in RCC is still very limited due to low sensitivity in some cases, fragmentary data, and scarce numerosity of clinical trials in this setting. However, new potential applications have been proposed for the staging and restaging process of RCC with potential prognostic role, as well new radiotracers for the evaluation of tumor proliferation, neoangiogenesis, and to assess the response to target therapies.

Conclusion

In high-risk patients, 18F-FDG PET/CT may be useful for preoperative staging, in the restaging process and to monitor targeted molecular therapies such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. A new scenario could be open for risk stratification assessment using 18F-FDG PET/CT. New radiopharmaceuticals agents have been proposed; however, further trials are warranted to establish their role in clinical setting.

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Fig. 1

Reproduced with permission from Alongi et al. [7]

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiological Sciences, Nuclear Medicine Unit, Fondazione Istituto G. Giglio, Cefalù, Italy

    Elisa Fiasconaro & Pierpaolo Alongi

  2. Clinic of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Federico Caobelli

  3. Nuclear Medicine Unit, A.R.N.A.S. Ospedali Civico Di Cristina Benfratelli, Palermo, Italy

    Natale Quartuccio

  4. Oncology Unit, Fondazione Istituto G. Giglio, Cefalù, Italy

    Marco Messina & Massimiliano Spada

  5. Department of Radiology, Di.Bi.Med., University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Domenico Albano

Authors
  1. Elisa Fiasconaro
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  2. Federico Caobelli
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  3. Natale Quartuccio
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  4. Marco Messina
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  5. Massimiliano Spada
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  7. Pierpaolo Alongi
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Correspondence to Pierpaolo Alongi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Financial support

The authors have no disclosure of any personal or financial support for this multicenter study.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study formal consent is not required.

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Fiasconaro, E., Caobelli, F., Quartuccio, N. et al. PET/CT for the diagnostic assessment of patients with renal cancer. Clin Transl Imaging 6, 207–216 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-018-0278-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-018-0278-7

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