Last month, a study was released during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago that provided evidence of sub-stage specific surveillance PET/CT imaging detecting relapses of melanoma in patients. 232 patients in various stages of melanoma of the arm participated in the study. Eleven patients were in stage IIIA, 50 patients were in stage IIIB, and 25 patients were in stage IIIC.

The stage of the disease the patient was in determined the amount of scans he or she received. Stage IIIA patients received two scans, patients with stage IIIB received seven scans, and patients with stage IIIC had 5 different scans. Out of the 232 patients that participated in the study, there was a 29% relapse rate and 80% of those who relapsed were asymptomatic when they were scanned. Overall, the study’s results indicated the sensitivity of this approach for detecting relapses was 88% and specificity was 84% – a significantly favorable conclusion.

These results encourage further imaging than what is currently practiced. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services currently covers three post-treatment scans, but a growing amount of studies indicate that further stages of specific imaging can help catch relapses in asymptomatic patients. Hopefully, the amount of imaging covered will increase in response to these studies.