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. 2011 Jun;21(6):1277-85.
doi: 10.1007/s00330-010-2025-y. Epub 2011 Jan 28.

PET/CT without capacity limitations: a Danish experience from a European perspective

Poul Flemming Høilund-Carlsen  1 , Oke Gerke, Mie Holm Vilstrup, Anne Lerberg Nielsen, Anders Thomassen, Søren Hess, Mette Høilund-Carlsen, Werner Vach, Henrik Petersen
Affiliations

PET/CT without capacity limitations: a Danish experience from a European perspective

Poul Flemming Høilund-Carlsen et al. Eur Radiol. 2011 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: We report the 3-year clinical experience of a large new Danish PET/CT centre without capacity limitations in relation to national and European developments.

Methods: The use of PET/CT in cancer was registered from early 2006 to early 2009 to judge the impact on patient management and to compare it with national and European trends.

Results: 6056 PET/CT examinations were performed in 4327 patients. Activity increased by 86 examinations per month compared with the same month the year before. Referrals came primarily from oncology (23.0%), haematology (21.6%), surgery (12.6%), internal medicine (12.7%) and gynaecology (5.5%). Referral indications were diagnosis (31.3%), staging (22.3%), recurrence detection (21.2%), response evaluation (17.0%) and other (8.2%). Response from nearly 60% of users showed that PET/CT caused a change in diagnosis and/or staging and/or treatment plan in 36.0% of cases. During the study period, there was a steep increase in the national use of FDG and in the European use of PET/CT.

Conclusions: We recorded a constantly increasing use of PET/CT that caused a change in diagnosis and/or staging and/or treatment plan in 36.0% of cases. In line with national and European trends this may suggest a shift in favour of functional rather than anatomical imaging.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Reported use of FDG PET/CT for diagnosis, staging, detection of recurrence and response evaluation. The y-axis displays the percentage of examinations
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The monthly development in PET/CT at Odense University Hospital. The y-axis displays the number of examinations. The dotted horizontal red line indicates the maximum practical capacity with three PET/CT systems according to the Danish National Board of Health [26]
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The development of PET and PET/CT examinations in Denmark with FDG and tracers other than FDG [16]. Since 2005 the average annual increase in FDG PET and FDG PET/CT has been 55%
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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