PET-CT IN OESOPHAGEAL CANCER MANAGEMENT: WHATS IT WORTH?

Azmi N.A. 1,2, MRes, Abdul Razak H.R. 1, BSc, PhD, Vinjamuri S. 3, MD, PhD.

Department of Medical Imaging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Technology

MARA, Puncak Alam Campus, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan.
2

Diagnostic Imaging & Radiotherapy Programme, Faculty of Health Sciences, 6th floor,

Yayasan Selangor Building, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur.
3

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, L7 8XP.

Address correspondence: Azmi N.A, Division of Medical Imaging, Faculty of Health

Sciences, University of Technology MARA, Puncak Alam Campus, 42300 Puncak Alam,
Selangor Darul Ehsan (e-mail:noraniza.azmi@ukm.edu.my).

ABSTRACT
Purpose: Assessment of clinicians points of views on the importance of PET-CT on
practicality, clinical efficacy and the cost benefit in oesophageal cancer management.
Materials and Methods: This survey is part of a wider study into the cost-effectiveness of
PET-CT in the oesophageal cancer management. An integral part of this work used a focused
survey to determine clinicians perceptions on practicality, clinical efficacy and cost
effectiveness of PET-CT.
Results: 134 clinicians responded with return rate of 27%. In 9 out of 15 questions majority of
participants showed a tendency to agree on practicality and clinical effectiveness of PETCT,
whilst no similar tendency was found for cost effectiveness. In contrast to other topics, majority
of feedback related to cost-effectiveness skewed towards neutral or no opinion.
Conclusion: There is a clear understanding that PET-CT has positive impact in the
management oesophageal cancer patients. Issues related to expertise, availability, staffing
issues and bureaucracy need to be addressed for future improvement on competency and
quality of services.