Watch for PET/CT to grow as an aid to image-guided biopsies of children

PET/CT can add value to cancer staging and follow-up in pediatric patients. In fact, it may come to play an important role in directing image-guided biopsies of children, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Senior author Bairbre Connolly, MD, of the University of Toronto and colleagues note that PET/CT is increasingly used to evaluate adult oncology patients with the radiotracer FDG, which enables precise localization of high cellular activity. But the question has been largely open as to whether FDG PET/CT can be similarly useful in children, who tend to have higher FDG activity in regions of growth, adenoids, tonsils and bone marrow, among other typical FDG differences. Read more.