Results of thorough medical checkups including FDG-PET examinations for over 4000 healthy men and women

Abstract

We performed FDG-PET examinations on 4155 men and women since July 2002, as a part of thorough medical checkups. In these examinations, many cancers, including ones in the early stages, were found in various parts of the body. We did all the following examinations for each person: a CT imaging examination for the cervical, chest and upper abdominal areas including virtual gastroendoscopy; MR imaging examination of the brain and the pelvic area; ultrasonic examination of the thyroid, upper abdominal and pelvic areas; mammography in the case of women; and blood and urine analyses including for tumor markers. As a result of these examinations (4155 persons as of August 31, 2003), we found 113 persons who possibly had cancer including suspected cases. Finally, 73 cases were confirmed as cancer in fact. The discovery rate of cancer was 1.80% through our medical checkup. This number is almost the same as those of other clinics which did thorough medical checkups including PET examinations. In the case of thyroid cancer, we found 29 cases that were likely to be cancer and finally, 19 cases were diagnosed as real thyroid cancer by biopsy. In the case of colon cancer, we found 24 suspected cases, and 14 cases were confirmed by biopsy. We analyzed the results of the thorough medical checkups including PET examinations of over 4000 healthy men and women, and report the results.