[¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT. Its correlation with carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with colorectal carcinoma].

BACKGROUND

¹⁸F-FDG PET has been shown to be highly accurate for recurrent and metastatic disease as well as in restaging. The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) can be used as a marker of prognosis and recurrence.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between the presence of lesions detected with 18F-FDG PET/CT and CEA values in patients with colorectal carcinoma.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We reviewed the records of 2,051 patients who underwent PET/CT to identify all the patients with colorectal carcinoma and previous CEA.

RESULTS

We included a total of 101 patients, 51 women and 50 men, with an average age of 60.21 years. The clinical stage that prevailed was ECIIA, with moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma histology (88.12%). There was agreement between the elevation of CEA and lesions detected by PET/CT in 73.9%. From the patients with normal values of CEA, in 42% the PET/CT study was positive for tumoral recurrence or metastases.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study revealed that 18F-FDG PET/CT can provided additional information in up to 42% of patients with normal ranges of carcinoembryonic antigen, detecting early recurrence or metastases.