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Ann Thorac Surg 2000;70:1159-1160
© 2000 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Discussion

Discussion

Discussion

DR LARRY R. KAISER (Philadelphia, PA): Can you clarify whether the nuclear medicine physicians had access to the computed tomographic (CT) scans when they read these studies. You know, there are a number of studies that show, and you pointed it out as well, that when you use the positron emission tomographic (PET) scan in conjunction with the CT scan, that the sensitivity and specificity can be quite high. I was impressed that your specificity was as good as it was because often the incidence of false positives might even be higher.

The other thing is, we have had some problem with our nuclear medicine physicians. When you go down and question them, they will change their opinion: "Well, yes, maybe that one is negative." Have you had any problem with bias on the part of the nuclear medicine physicians, because, as you mentioned, the software can vary and the attenuation can vary as well.

DR ROBERTS: Those are two excellent points. In our particular study, the nuclear medicine physicians did have access to the CT scans, and I believe that often times their impression was made using a combination of the anatomic data as well as the physiologic data. Our radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians, like yours, do waffle a bit, and oftentimes they will say something is positive or negative, and when you go back and really press them, they do change their minds. That is one of the attractive properties of standardized uptake . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Related Article

Factors associated with false-positive staging of lung cancer by positron emission tomography
Peter F. Roberts, David M. Follette, Derek von Haag, Jason A. Park, Peter E. Valk, Thomas R. Pounds, and Donald M. Hopkins
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2000 70: 1154-1159. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]





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