Role of positron emission tomography computed tomography in screening metastasis of renal cell carcinoma

Abstract Purpose To demonstrate role of PET-CT (positron emission tomography-computed tomography) in screening for local and distant metastatic deposits from primary renal cell carcinoma and enhancing its advantages over other imaging modalities. Materials and methods Twenty patients were evaluated as post nephrectomy screening for renal malignancy. Positive cases were interpreted whenever a focal area of FDG uptake more than the surrounding tissue whether in or outside abdominal cavity. Final diagnosis after correlation with other conventional radiological modalities as CT, MRI with the gold standard was histopathological diagnosis. Results In current study, there were different sites of distant metastasis of renal cell carcinoma as follow: lung was the commonest (8 patients = 40%), followed with bones (7 patients = 35%), lymph nodes (6 patients = 30%), liver (4 patients = 20%), suprarenal gland (4 patients = 20%) and last were peritoneal deposits (2 patients = 10%). Conclusion PET-CT had limitations in evaluating RCC metastasis due to its inability for adequate characterization of small metastatic lesions, however positive PET-CT results as a good predictive for evaluating metastatic deposits. PET-CT acts mainly as a complementary anatomy-based imaging modality and hence it may decrease or exclude the need for biopsy in some situations.