Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is used commonly in the diagnosis of suspected lung cancer.

Computed bioconductance (CB) being investigated as a non-invasive way to predict whether a suspicious abnormality in the lung is benign or malignant.

In this study, researches found that CB combined with PET before biopsy of suspicious lesions could improve diagnostic effectiveness of potentially cancerous lesions detected by CT scan.

In this prospective analysis, researchers found CB results combined with PET improved the ability to distinguish malignant from benign conditions compared with PET alone.

"In China, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality and causes huge health burdens and expense. Adding CB measurement to standard PET scanning could prove to be a useful, non-invasive diagnostic tool for aiding diagnosis of patients with lung cancer" said Dr Dawei Yang, lead author, Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Further study results will be shared at CHEST World Congress 2016. The study abstract can be viewed on the journal Chest website.

CHEST World Congress 2016, a global event connecting clinicians from around the world specialising in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine will be held April 15 to 17, 2016, in Shanghai, China, with the support of the Chinese Thoracic Society.

Reference

Yang, Li, Gong et al. Preliminary study on combining bioconductance measurement with 18FDG-PET in evaluation CT detected lung lesion suspicious for lung cancer, Chest, Volume 149, Issue 4, Supplement, April 2016

Source: American College of Chest Physicians