Role of Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Detecting Bone Metastases in Cancer Patients.

Bone is a fertile soil for dissemination of metastatic tumor cells which can cause either osteolytic ( destructive) or osteoblastic (sclerotic) or mixed lesions in advanced cancer. Bone metastases are most common throughout the axial skeleton, this leads to major complications referred to as skeletal-related events (SREs), the most frequently are the need for radiotherapy and pathological fractures, associated with increase life morbidity and decrease overall survival.

Seeking accurate image modalities provides definite staging, determining the optimal strategy of treatment and precise evaluation to decrease the burden of complication.

PET/CT is superior than 2-dimensional planar providing a better image quality and enables quantitation of tumor metabolism. Acquisition and fusion of PET with CT also allow for localization and morphologic evaluation of abnormalities, leading to increased specificity. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline recommended PET/CT imaging in cancers with high risk skeletal metastases, PET has advantage than CT in diagnosing osteolytic lesions; but combining PET with CT, increase the detection of osteoblastic lesions.

CT is recommended to evaluate structural integrity in revealing cortical integrity and the extent of structural destruction.