PET Scans More Useful to Identify Best Treatment for Lung Cancer

Physicians who treat patients at risk of developing lung cancer may have a new diagnostic tool at their disposal if researchers get their way. Researchers made this announcement in a recent press release.

Currently, the standard treatment to detect lung cancer involves using CT scanning. CT scans are useful to detect anatomical changes that have occurred in a patient's lungs, however the PET scan provides different data.

Using a PET scan, it is possible to detect minor biochemical processes that are not detectable by a CT scan. These biochemical processes often occur long before a patient is officially diagnosed with lung cancer.

When a patient is diagnosed with lung cancer, they are staged. Staging refers to the prognosis and treatment plan that is put into place once a patient is diagnosed with lung cancer. Staging is based upon the severity and degree of damage that has happened to a patient's lung.

CT scans are useful to identify the stage of cancer that a patient is experiencing. The cancer patients lungs are examined to detect any anatomical changes that have transpired. However, the CT scan is not particularly effective at diagnosis new cases of lung cancer before they have become more severe.

Researchers have determined that the PET scan differentiates between malignant and benign tumors that are very small, even as small as 1 centimeter. In addition, the PET scan is more effective at providing useful data concerning how far lung cancer has advanced, into the lymph nodes that are in the center of one's chest (mediastinal).

Armed with this information, physicians can select the most appropriate course of treatment for each lung cancer patient.

To the layman, CT and PET scans are easily confused. The same machinery can be used when conducting either scan. However, the PET scan shows the molecular activity that occurs inside of a person's body. The CT scan simply shows the structure of a persons body, and does not show the molecules.

Although it is not discussed nearly as much as many other forms of cancer, lung cancer causes more deaths than any other type of cancer. In 2007 alone, lung cancer will claim an estimated 1.3 million lives worldwide.

Common symptoms of lung cancer include coughing (particularly when someone coughs up blood), shortness of breath, and weight loss.

"Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death and early diagnosis provides the best chance for long term survival. It is our hope this systematic review contributes to clinical guideline discussions exploring the potential of PET as part of standard preoperative work-up - along with computed tomography (CT) - to further enhance assessment of early-stage lung cancer," said Dr. Ung, chair, Lung Cancer Site Group, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook.

Sources:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/shsc-pis112707.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer
http://www.petscan.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ct_scan