The Brain Metabolic Change in Chronic Cancer Pain Patient: FDG PET Image Study

Cancer pain deteriorated in quality of life and related with numerous psychosocial problems. Over the one third of cancer patient suffered from moderate to severe cancer pain, even under adequate pain management. The 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images can provide quantitative results in clinical oncology. As a functional neuroimaging, the PET evidently provided anatomical activated regions, size, and spatial extent information. In this study, we use FDG-PET to investigate changes concerning the glucose metabolism in the brain with or without cancer pain. Therefore, we may provide useful information to treatment target in cancer pain patients.