TY - JOUR
T1 - The Clinical Role of Dual-Time-Point 18F-FDG PET/CT in Differential Diagnosis of the Thyroid Incidentaloma
AU - Lee, Sinae
AU - Park, Taegyu
AU - Park, Soyeon
AU - Pahk, Kisoo
AU - Rhee, Seunghong
AU - Cho, Jaehyuk
AU - Jeong, Eugene
AU - Kim, Sungeun
AU - Choe, Jae Gol
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Seoul National University Hospital Research Fund (grant number 03-2004-013-0) and a grant of the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry for Health, Welfare & Family Affairs, Republic of Korea (A070001) and a grant from Korea University (grant number K1132631 and K0714991).
PY - 2014/6
Y1 - 2014/6
N2 - Thyroid incidentalomas are common findings during imaging studies including 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for cancer evaluation. Although the overall incidence of incidental thyroid uptake detected on PET imaging is low, clinical attention should be warranted owing to the high incidence of harboring primary thyroid malignancy. We retrospectively reviewed 2,368 dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT cases that were undertaken for cancer evaluation from November 2007 to February 2009, to determine the clinical impact of dual-time-point imaging in the differential diagnosis of thyroid incidentalomas. Focal thyroid uptake was identified in 64 PET cases and final diagnosis was clarified with cytology/histology in a total of 27 patients with 18F-FDG-avid incidental thyroid lesion. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the initial image (SUV1) and SUVmax of the delayed image (SUV2) were determined, and the retention index (RI) was calculated by dividing the difference between SUV2 and SUV1 by SUV1 (i.e., RI = [SUV2 - SUV1]/SUV1 × 100). These indices were compared between patient groups that were proven to have pathologically benign or malignant thyroid lesions. There was no statistically significant difference in SUV1 between benign and malignant lesions. SUV2 and RI of the malignant lesions were significantly higher than the benign lesions. The areas under the ROC curves showed that SUV2 and RI have the ability to discriminate between benign and malignant thyroid lesions. The predictability of dual-time-point PET parameters for thyroid malignancy was assessed by ROC curve analyses. When SUV2 of 3.9 was used as cut-off threshold, malignancy on the pathology could be predicted with a sensitivity of 87.5 % and specificity of 75 %. A thyroid lesion that shows RI greater than 12.5 % could be expected to be malignant (sensitivity 88.9 %, specificity 66.3 %). All malignant lesions showed an increase in SUVmax on the delayed images compared with the initial images. But in the group of benign lesions, 37.5 % (6/16) showed a decrease or no change in SUVmax. Dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT, obtaining additional images 2 h after injection, seems to be a complementary method for the differentiation between malignancy and benignity of incidental thyroid lesions.
AB - Thyroid incidentalomas are common findings during imaging studies including 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for cancer evaluation. Although the overall incidence of incidental thyroid uptake detected on PET imaging is low, clinical attention should be warranted owing to the high incidence of harboring primary thyroid malignancy. We retrospectively reviewed 2,368 dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT cases that were undertaken for cancer evaluation from November 2007 to February 2009, to determine the clinical impact of dual-time-point imaging in the differential diagnosis of thyroid incidentalomas. Focal thyroid uptake was identified in 64 PET cases and final diagnosis was clarified with cytology/histology in a total of 27 patients with 18F-FDG-avid incidental thyroid lesion. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the initial image (SUV1) and SUVmax of the delayed image (SUV2) were determined, and the retention index (RI) was calculated by dividing the difference between SUV2 and SUV1 by SUV1 (i.e., RI = [SUV2 - SUV1]/SUV1 × 100). These indices were compared between patient groups that were proven to have pathologically benign or malignant thyroid lesions. There was no statistically significant difference in SUV1 between benign and malignant lesions. SUV2 and RI of the malignant lesions were significantly higher than the benign lesions. The areas under the ROC curves showed that SUV2 and RI have the ability to discriminate between benign and malignant thyroid lesions. The predictability of dual-time-point PET parameters for thyroid malignancy was assessed by ROC curve analyses. When SUV2 of 3.9 was used as cut-off threshold, malignancy on the pathology could be predicted with a sensitivity of 87.5 % and specificity of 75 %. A thyroid lesion that shows RI greater than 12.5 % could be expected to be malignant (sensitivity 88.9 %, specificity 66.3 %). All malignant lesions showed an increase in SUVmax on the delayed images compared with the initial images. But in the group of benign lesions, 37.5 % (6/16) showed a decrease or no change in SUVmax. Dual-time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT, obtaining additional images 2 h after injection, seems to be a complementary method for the differentiation between malignancy and benignity of incidental thyroid lesions.
KW - Delay scan
KW - Dual-phase PET
KW - Dual-time-point imaging
KW - Retention index
KW - SUVmax
KW - Thyroid incidentaloma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901336599&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13139-013-0247-z
DO - 10.1007/s13139-013-0247-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901336599
VL - 48
SP - 121
EP - 129
JO - Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
JF - Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
SN - 1869-3474
IS - 2
ER -