| We have evaluated the clinical impact of FDG-PET on patient staging and management during the opening year of our PET centre in France. A questionnaire, translation in French of the questionnaire used recently in California, was sent to the referring physician of each of the 476 patients who had at least one routine FDG-PET examination during the year 2000. Of 348 responses (response rate = 73%), the disease was upstaged in 26% of the cases and downstaged in 9%. Inter-modality management changes (change from a scheduled therapeutic modality for a different one) were reported in 37% of the cases and intra-modality changes in 9%. Those modification rates were respectively 38% and 7% in recurrence of colorectal cancer (153 patients), 47% and 7% in lung cancer... |
