부산대학교 도서관

The diagnostic approach to pleural diseases may be difficult. The CT scan, which is the current diagnostic technique, has limited accuracy both in the differentiation between benign and malignant pleural diseases and in the diagnosis of primary and metastatic pleural neoplasms. Invasive procedures, such as thoracoscopy, are therefore frequently required to complete the diagnostic approach. The increasing incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma has led to the development of new treatment strategies, which still need to be fully validated. There is, therefore, a need for new diagnostic techniques that can lead to a definite diagnosis and a satisfactory evaluation of the response to treatment. Encouraging results have been reported with the F-18-labeled analogue of 2-deoxyglucose (18-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in the evaluation of chest tumors such as lung cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of 18-FDG PET in the diagnostic assessment of pleural diseases.