Test performance of PET-CT for mediastinal lymph node staging of pulmonary carcinoid tumors.

7544 Background: PET-CT is a standard investigation to stage the mediastinum in non-small cell lung cancer when radical management is planned. The clinical utility of PET-CT in carcinoid tumours is uncertain as its test performance at identifying mediastinal lymph node disease in these tumours is as yet undefined with such tumours being rare and FDG avidity often variable or low. We sought to determine the test performance of PET-CT for mediastinal lymph node staging of pulmonary carcinoid tumours. Methods: We collated retrospective data from 5 institutions for a consecutive series of patients who underwent thoracic surgery for carcinoid tumours and had preoperative PET-CT staging prior to surgery (with lymph nodal dissection). PET-CT results were compared against the reference standard of pathologic results obtained from lymph node dissection, and test performance reported using sensitivity and specificity. Results: From November 1999 to May 2012, a total of 153 patients with a preoperative PET-CT scan f...