Positron Emission Tomography in Merkel Cell Carcinoma.
Christos SachpekidisPolytimi SidiropoulouJessica C HasselNikolaos DrakoulisAntonia Dimitrakopoulou-StraussPublished in: Cancers (2020)
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare neuroendocrine skin malignancy usually arising as a nonspecific nodule on sun-exposed areas of the head and neck. Given the poor prognosis of this aggressive tumor, assessment of disease burden in pre- and post-treatment care may ensure an optimal management with significant implications for patient surveillance and prognosis. Although imaging has established its role in locally advanced or distant metastatic MCC, a standard imaging algorithm is yet to be determined and respective recommendations are mainly based on melanoma. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is increasingly evolving as a valuable imaging tool in metastatic or unresectable MCC, mostly utilizing the glucose analogue 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) as a radiotracer. Despite being inferior in detecting the disease in its early stages compared to the "gold standard" of sentinel lymph node biopsy, recent evidence suggests an important role for 18F-FDG PET/CT in the routine workup of localized MCC. Moreover, 68Ga-labeled somatostatin analogues have been employed as PET tracers in the field of MCC with promising, yet comparable to 18F-FDG, results. This article provides a structured literature review of the most important studies investigating the role of PET or PET/CT in the clinical practice of MCC.
Keyphrases
- positron emission tomography
- pet ct
- pet imaging
- computed tomography
- poor prognosis
- clinical practice
- locally advanced
- squamous cell carcinoma
- high resolution
- sentinel lymph node
- neoadjuvant chemotherapy
- lymph node
- small cell lung cancer
- healthcare
- long non coding rna
- early stage
- case report
- machine learning
- rectal cancer
- radiation therapy
- palliative care
- clinical trial
- phase ii study
- blood pressure
- skeletal muscle
- deep learning
- risk factors
- pain management
- insulin resistance
- smoking cessation
- ultrasound guided
- metabolic syndrome
- type diabetes
- affordable care act
- free survival