Molecular Imaging of the Lungs

Amit Singnurkar

Key Points

  • FDG-PET is a functional imaging modality that can change management in a large proportion of lung cancer patients by reducing the number of futile thoracotomies.
  • The main strengths of FDG-PET currently lie in excluding lymph node metastases and discovery of distant metastatic deposits.
  • FDG-PET is useful in the assessment of solitary pulmonary nodules with an intermediate probability of malignancy.
  • The role of FDG-PET in prognosis, recurrence, and non-invasive treatment planning remains an area of active research and evolving practice.
  • Limitations of PET in cancer detection are low sensitivity for small volume tumors and inability to differentiate infection and inflammation from malignancy.
  • Lung scintigraphy remains an important tool in the assessment of patients suspected of pulmonary embolus and for the prediction of post-operative lung function.
  • Radiomics and artificial intelligence, novel devices, and new radiotracers are expected to improve the utility of PET imaging for the care of lung cancer patients.

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.

© 2026 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and Unbound Medicine, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for AI model training or other unauthorized purposes.