1.Comparison of 18F-NaF PET/CT with Other Imaging Methods in the Detection of Bone Metastases in Patients with Medullary Thyroid Cancer: a Report of a Series of 31 Cases
Cristina Emiko UEDA ; Paulo Schiavom DUARTE ; Luciana Audi de CASTRONEVES ; George Barbério COURA-FILHO ; Heitor Naoki SADO ; Marcelo Tatit SAPIENZA ; Ana Oliveira HOFF ; Carlos Alberto BUCHPIGUEL
Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2020;54(6):281-291
Purpose:
To compare the 18F-NaF PET/CT studies (18F-NaF) with other imaging methods in the detection of skeletal metastases (SM) in patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed 31 patients with MTC who performed 18F-NaF to assess SM. The results of the 18F-NaF were compared with other imaging methods performed for metastasis detection: 99Tc-MDP bone scan (BS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), contrast-enhanced CT (CT), and 68Ga-Dotatate and 18F-FDG PET/CT studies. A qualitative analysis comparing the 18F-NaF findings with the ones of the other methods was performed, and the results were classified as superior (>), equal (=), and inferior (<).
Results:
Eleven patients had no bone metastases detected on any of the imaging methods used. Twenty patients presented SM depicted on 18F-NaF. Of these 20 patients, 12 performed bone scan (in 9 18F-NaF > BS and in 3 188F-NaF = BS), 1 performed 18F-FDG (18F-NaF >18F-FDG), 4 performed 18Ga-Dotatate (in 2 18F-NaF >18Ga-Dotatate and in 2 18F-NaF = 18Ga-Dotatate), 20 performed CT of at least one body segment (in 15 18F-NaF = CT and in 5 18F-NaF > CT), and 16 performed MRI of at least one body segment, and in all of them, the 18F-NaF was equal to the MRI. Beside this, the 18F-NaF detected SM in body segments not routinely scanned in MRI and CT.
Conclusion
In patients with MTC, the 18F-NaF seems to be equal or superior to other imaging modalities in the detection of SM and allows the analysis of the whole skeletal in a single study.