Tracking Mesothelioma with FDG-PET
The imaging method called positron emission tomography (PET) using the radioactive tracer molecule 18F-FDG is a valuable way to both diagnose and track the progression of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. Nuclear medicine researchers at a Hospital in Barcelona, Spain reviewed the diagnostic and treatment records of 60 people with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, a form of mesothelioma that spreads on the membrane lining the walls of the abdomen. The study subjects included 34 women and 26 men with a mean age of 53. All the patients in the study had had multiple 18-F-FDG-PET scans to diagnose or track their cancer. Eleven of the studied patients had an FDG-PET scan prior to receiving treatment. In all cases, the scans showed characteristic mesothelioma disease…