PET-CT imaging in patients with anal cancer

Recommendation for NHSScotland

In primary tumour staging in patients diagnosed with anal cancer, FDG PET-CT should be considered as an adjunct to clinical assessment and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) imaging.

For radiotherapy treatment planning in patients with anal cancer, FDG PET-CT should be considered as an adjunct to clinical assessment and MRI or CT imaging.

It is not possible to provide advice on the use of FDG PET-CT for monitoring of treatment response in patients with anal cancer due to a lack of studies assessing this outcome.

There is uncertainty about the balance of costs and benefits of FDG PET-CT for anal cancer due to a lack of published cost effectiveness studies. Cost data for FDG PET-CT in Scotland should be collected in future to inform further assessments on this technology.

NHSScotland is required to consider the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) advice.

What were we asked to look at?

We were asked to provide advice on the use of FDG PET-CT for the routine staging and monitoring of treatment response in patients with anal cancer

Why is this important?

The Scottish Clinical Imaging Network (SCIN) working group on PET-CT produce recommendations on the use of this technology in NHSScotland.  Our advice will be used to inform the SCIN use of PET-CT.

Referred by

The Scottish Clinical Imaging Network (SCIN) working group on PET-CT