Role of PET in Evaluating Indeterminate Solitary Pulmonary Nodule with CT.
- Author:
Byung Tae KIM
;
Sang Eun KIM
;
Yong CHOI
;
Kyung Han LEE
;
Yearn Seong CHOE
;
Seok Boo YOON
;
Joon Young CHOI
;
Sun Jung KIM
;
O Jung KWON
;
Kyung Soo LEE
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodule;
Positron emission tomography;
Peak standardized uptake value;
Time-activity curve
- MeSH:
Diagnosis;
Glucose;
Humans;
Metabolism;
Positron-Emission Tomography;
Sensitivity and Specificity;
Solitary Pulmonary Nodule*
- From:Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
1997;31(1):83-89
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
About one-third of radiologically indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) are eventually turned out to be malignant. It is very important to noninvasively determine whether the SPN is malignant or not for the decision of its way of management. PET imaging is highlighted by its unique ability of imaging the function and metabolism of cells. Glucose metabolism is increased in malignant transformed cells. We performed FDG-PET studies in patients who ha radiologi- cally indeterminate SPN and compared the findings with histologic diagnoses to assess the diagnostic accuracy in the detection of malignancy and to decide which parameter is the most suitable for clinical practice among peak SUV (pSUV), average SUV (aSUV), 50/10 ratio, and time-activity curve (TAC). Thirty patients were included in this study and the most useful parameter was pSUV. The sensitivity and specificity in the detection of malignant SPN using 3.5 as a cut off pSUV were both 87%. Interestingly, all 2 false-negative cases were bronch- ioloalveolar carcinoma on histologic examination. If these cases, which could be strongly suspected by CT findings, were excluded, the sensitivity of pSUV was 100%. In conclusion, PET imaging is very helpful for determining malignancy in indeterminate SPN and pSUV is a conveniently measurable parameter which is valuable for interpretation.
