Prospective Evaluation of Positron Emission Tomography in the Preoperative Staging of Esophageal Carcinoma

Hypothesis Positron emission tomography (PET) is a useful tool in the selection of patients with esophageal cancer who may not benefit from esophageal resection. Design Case series. Setting Tertiary care hospital. Patients Eighty-one patients with newly diagnosed esophageal cancer who underwent PET and computer tomography (CT) of the chest and abdomen (and of the neck in 45 patients) within 45 days were included. Main Outcome Measures We calculated the sensitivity and specificity in detecting metastatic sites on the basis of 31 histologically verified lesions. In addition to results obtained on CT, the information provided by PET was evaluated with a view to the choice of management strateg…