PET proves effective in evaluating cancer treatment

A new study out of UCLA reports that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is better than Computed Tomography (CT or CAT) at figuring out whether cancer treatments are working.

This argues strongly for using PET. If CT or other imaging fails to detect results, the doctor may want to switch to a more strenuous treatment.

Routine treatment of cancer patients uses the RECIST, or Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria.

CT and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans show the doctor pictures of the body; PET shows more subtle things like biochemical functions. Patients are injected with radioactive sugar. Cancer cells use more sugar than normal cells use. PET therefore can indicate whether the cancer cells in the tumor were still alive and dividing after chemotherapy and radiation. CT and MRI cannot.

Further, PET allows a quantitative assessment of treatment effectiveness. The scans tell doctors how much of the malignant tumor is still active.

Dr. Fritz Eilber, UCLA assistant professor of surgery, led the study. He told a reporter that the study represented a multidisciplinary effort with experts from surgery, medical oncology, radiology, pathology, orthopedics, nuclear medicine and biostatistics.

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