Peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with ovarian cancer: enhanced CT versus 18F-FDG PET/CT.

PURPOSE

The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of PET/CT in detecting peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with ovarian cancer and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of FDG PET/CT with that of enhanced abdominal CT.

METHODS

The medical records of 46 consecutive patients with ovarian cancer were reviewed, and the presence of peritoneal tumor on (18)F-FDG PET/CT and enhanced abdominal CT scans was also assessed. Imaging results were compared with the pathologic findings obtained by surgery.

RESULTS

Pathologic results were positive for peritoneal carcinomatosis in 26 patients and negative in 20 patients. PET/CT correctly detected 25 of 26 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis and enhanced abdominal CT correctly detected 23 of 26 patients. Sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis were 96.2% and 90%, respectively, for PET/CT and 88.5% and 65%, respectively, for enhanced abdominal CT. The accuracy of PET/CT was statistically higher than that of enhanced abdominal CT (93.5% vs 78.3%, P = 0.039). Four distinctly abnormal PET/CT findings of single nodular, multiple nodular, diffuse, and mixed FDG uptakes were identified and corresponded to pathologic findings.

CONCLUSIONS

(18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging is efficient in the diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis and its performance is superior to that of enhanced abdominal CT.