Suppression of Undesired 18 FDG Uptake within inflammatory lymph nodes and inflamed tissues on Positron Emission Tomography Scans that are obtained for Neoplastic Staging
Positron Emission Tomography (PET, PET-CT, or PET-MRI) scans utilizing 18FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) are often performed for the evaluation of the extent of neoplastic disease, specifically to assess for the extent of metastases, in order to guide cancer staging and treatment. 18FDG is typically avidly taken up by neoplastic cells, but also by inflamed tissues such as lymph nodes. In th context of neoplastic staging, such inflammatory uptake is often undesired, and leads to occasional uncertainty in the assessment of the extent of metastatic disease if inflammatory processes are concurrently present. A regimen consisting of one or more anti-inflammatory medications administered prior to PET scan can potentially suppress such undesired inflammatory FDG activity. Administration of such medication regimen could be routine, before a subset or entirety of all PET scan attempts for certain groups of diseases, or prior to a repeat PET scan, used to resolve difficult cases, leading to 2 PET scans, one with and one without the anti-inflammatory medication.
