PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF F-18 FLUORODEOXYGLUCOSE POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY IN PATIENTS WITH BLADDER-CANCER

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of imaging of bladder cancer with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission t omography (FDG-PET) scanning. We studied 12 patients with histological ly proven bladder cancer who had undergone surgical procedures and/or radiotherapy, Retrograde irrigation of the urinary bladder with 1000-3 710 ml saline was performed during nine of the studies. Dynamic and st atic PET images were obtained, and standardized uptake value images we re reconstructed. FDG-PET scanning was true-positive in eight patients (66.7%), but false-negative in four (33.3%), Of 20 organs with tumor mass lesions confirmed pathologically or clinically, 16 (80%) were det ected by FDG-PET scanning. FDG-PET scanning detected all of 17 distant metastatic lesions and two of three proven regional lymph node metast ases. FDG-PET was also capable of differentiating viable recurrent bla dder cancer from radiation-induced alterations in two patients. In con clusion, these preliminary data indicate the feasibility of FDG-PET im aging in patients with bladder cancer, although a major remaining pitf all is intense FDG accumulation in the urine.