OAK BROOK, Ill., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A new study indicates PET scans can detect incidental abnormalities unrelated to the initial malignancy in cancer patients.
The study appearing in the February issue of the journal Radiology said 71 percent of lesions detected through positron emission tomography were either already malignant or likely to turn so.
"The unexpected abnormalities we followed up on were significant," said the study's lead author, Harry Agress Jr.
"Typically, these cancers were not symptomatic and were unrelated to the primary cancer for which the scan was performed."
The researchers evaluated 1,750 PET scans of known or suspected cancers to determine the importance and malignant potential of additional, unexpected abnormal findings encountered during routine PET evaluation.
They identified 58 abnormalities in 53 patients. Most abnormalities were found in the colon, while others were located in the breast, fallopian tube, uterus, gallbladder, larynx, ovary, bone and thyroid.
