Clinical Staging of Patients with Early Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: Does FDG-PET/CT Have a Role?

The authors queried whether PET has utility in clinically staging Tis or T1 esophageal cancers; this was a single institution retrospective study involving 79 pts.  The incidence of FDG uptake increased with increasing T status, as did the SUV.  Nodal staging was false positive in 3 pts and false negative all 13 pts with nodal involvement.  Metastatic staging was false positive in 5 pts.  PET is not recommended for pts with Tis or T1 disease on EUS.