Data confirm FDG-PET impact on patient care
Clinicians changed the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as the result of FDG-PET scan findings, according to a study of data from the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR), published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).1
The study analyzed data regarding nearly 23,000 patients contributed to the NOPR by more than 1,200 facilities nationwide providing positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
The NOPR was designed to collect questionnaire data from referring physicians on intended patient management before and after a FDG-PET scan. The NOPR participating PET facility collects from referring physicians a pre-PET questionnaire (documenting study indication, cancer type and anticipated stage, and planned management if PET were not available) and one of several post-PET questionnaires that assess the referring physician's planned management in light of the FDG-PET findings. Analysis of data collected found that FDG-PET is associated with a 36.5% change in the decision of whether or how to treat a patient's cancer.
NOPR has formally asked CMS to reconsider the current national coverage decision on FDG-PET to end the data collection requirements for diagnosis, staging, and restaging. Medicare will review the published data.
Reference
- Hillner BE, Siegel BA, Liu D, et al. Impact of positron emission tomography/computed tomography and positron emission tomography (pet) alone on expected management of patients with cancer: initial results from the National Oncologic PET Registry. J Clinical Oncology published online ahead of print. Accessed at jco.ascopubs.org.
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