Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Not applicable, Lymphoma, Cancer, Staging, Imaging sequences, PET-MR, Paediatric, Oncology, Hybrid, Molecular and Translational Imaging
Authors:
G. Fichera1, G. Cherobin2, R. Scotto Opipari1, P. Zucchetta1, R. Stramare2, D. Cecchin1, C. Giraudo1; 1Padova/IT, 2Padua/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2020/C-09102
Background
Various tumors can affect children and diagnostic imaging plays a significant role at staging as well as during follow-up. In particular, lymphoma is one of the most common type of cancer affecting the pediatric population and specific types of sarcoma (e.g., rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma) affect children [13].
Regarding lymphoma, to date, according to the European guidelines, a whole-body computed tomography (CT) scan is mandatory at staging. Furthermore, the assessment of the metabolic activity of the disease by Positron emission tomography (PET) or PET/CT is recommended [1,3]. Especially during or after treatment, PET/CT, if available, should be performed to better characterize the response to treatment [2].
Also in pediatric sarcomas, radiological and nuclear medicine imaging play a significant role. For instance, Magnetic resonance (MR) [4] is considered the method of choice in the loco-regional assessment of soft tissue tumors, allowing a characterization of features like size, morphology, and peritumoral edema. CT, on the other hand, is essential to evaluate if a pulmonary metastatic spread occurred [5]. PET and PET/CT contribute to the assessment of the malignancy grade in this type of tumors [6].
In addition to the above mentioned techniques, recently, PET/MR, which allows the simultaneous collection of functional and metabolic information, has been successfully applied for oncological imaging in adults and children [7,16-18].