PET in Lung Cancer and Mediastinal Malignancies

FDG PET/CT plays a major role in the clinical management of lung cancer. Its main uses are staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and characterization of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPM). Furthermore, it can be employed for staging of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and for recurrence detection. Other thoracic malignancies accessible to FDG PET/CT are malignant pleural effusion, pleural mesothelioma, and thymic epithelial tumors (TETs). This chapter gives an overview of the diagnostic work-up of patients with these malignancies with special focus on the clinical significance of FDG PET/CT in relation to other imaging modalities such as diagnostic CT and MRI and its significance to guide clinical algorithms.