Whole-body cancer staging requires frequent follow-up in some patients

March 12, 2008 Whole-body cancer staging requires frequent follow-up in some patients H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whole-body MRI is more sensitive but less specific than FDG-PET/CT for cancer detection, according to researchers from China and Europe. Findings suggest a complementary rather than exclusive role in oncologic imaging for both modalities and validate recent studies suggesting close follow-up since either test can miss metastases. The clinical literature points at whole-body MRI as the most accurate test for the detection of bone metastases compared with whole-body FDG-PET/CT in patients with different types of cancer. New data suggest both tests may actually offer valuable diagnostic and staging information, although neither one is infallible, said principal investigator Dr. Till Heusner, a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician at the University Hospital Essen in Germany.

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