Archive · 16 Sep 2026
New Cancer Scan May Improve Ovarian Cancer Surgery Selection
Ovarian cancer can spread across the lining inside the belly.
Doctors need to know how much cancer has spread before choosing surgery or chemotherapy.
A newer scan called FAPI PET/CT may show these cancer deposits more clearly than a regular contrast CT scan.
In a study of 200 women in Bengaluru, FAPI PET/CT found more of the cancer that surgeons later saw during operations.
It was especially helpful in difficult-to-see areas such as the upper abdomen and around the bowel.
Regular CT was better at confirming when cancer was not present.
The new scan might help doctors decide who is most likely to benefit from surgery first.
However, it has not yet been proven to prevent unnecessary operations and still needs to be studied in larger groups.
A Bengaluru study found FAPI PET/CT detected peritoneal disease better than conventional CT.
FAPI PET/CT had 81.8% sensitivity and 86% overall diagnostic accuracy.
Conventional CT had lower sensitivity but higher specificity than FAPI PET/CT.
FAPI PET/CT performed especially better in the upper abdomen, small bowel and mesentery.
Larger studies are needed to determine whether the scan reduces non-therapeutic surgeries.
- Who
- Researchers led by Dr. Prathap H J studied 200 women with epithelial ovarian cancer.
- What
- The study compared [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT with conventional contrast-enhanced CT for mapping peritoneal disease before surgery.
- When
- Patients were evaluated between May 2024 and April 2025.
- Where
- The study was conducted at a tertiary oncology centre in Bengaluru.
- Why
- More accurate mapping could help doctors choose between primary cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy before surgery.
- Study participants
- 200 women with epithelial ovarian cancer
- FAPI PET sensitivity
- 81.8% for detecting peritoneal disease
- CT sensitivity
- 54.6% for detecting peritoneal disease
- FAPI PET accuracy
- 86% overall diagnostic accuracy
- CT accuracy
- 78% overall diagnostic accuracy
- Upper-abdomen sensitivity
- 76.5% for FAPI PET compared with 23.5% for CT
- Study limitations
- The research was conducted at one centre, used surgical assessment rather than final pathology as its reference standard, and mostly involved patients who had received chemotherapy.