Usefulness of PET with 11C-methionine for the detection of hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis in lung cancer.

Abstract

Methionine PET appears to be superior to CT for the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in lung cancer patients. The high negative predictive value of methionine PET suggests that cases in which lymph nodes are enlarged on CT with negative PET analysis may be diagnosed as negative for metastasis.