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Dutch
researchers report that Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
scans may be helpful in preventing futile surgery in some
cases where colon cancer has returned and spread outside the
liver.
According
to the researchers, half of the patients with colorectal cancer
will have their cancer recur within five years. If it is limited
to the liver, surgery can help one-third of these patients
live five years or longer.
While
CT scans or regular X-rays may show the tumor can be removed
from the liver, the researchers said that in many patients
the surgeon does not find that the tumor can not be removed
until surgery is underway.
Dr. T.J.M.
Ruers reported in the Journal of Oncology that in conducting
both CT scans and PET scans on 51 patients, both scans revealed
the same findings in 40 of the patients -- but in seven out
of eight patients, the PET scan correctly showed cancer outside
of the liver where the CT scan missed it.
He reported
that 10 patients in all -- one-fifth of the total studied
-- had their treatment plan changed as a result of adding
a PET scan to the evaluation process, and five patients avoided
futile surgery.
Source:
Colorectal
Cancer Week of March 31, 2002
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