HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vikram, R. Articles by Iyer, R. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Vikram, R. Articles by Iyer, R. B. Social Bookmarking                      What's this? Hotlight (NEW!) What's Hotlight?

Utility of PET/CT in Differentiating Benign from Malignant Adrenal Nodules in Patients with Cancer

¹ Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 1350, Houston, TX 77030-4009.
² Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong.
³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of combined PET/CT in differentiating benign from malignant adrenal nodules measuring at least 1 cm in diameter in patients with cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. We reviewed the radiology reports and images of patients with known malignant disease who had undergone PET/CT for cancer staging or surveillance and who had adrenal nodules at least 1 cm in diameter. We identified 112 adrenal nodules in 96 patients. Two-dimensional PET had been performed 1 hour after administration of ¹⁸F-FDG. Unenhanced CT was performed for attenuation correction, to determine lesion size, and for coregistration with PET data. Adrenal nodules were considered to have a positive PET result if the average standardized uptake value was greater than that of the liver. Follow-up data and biopsy reports were used to determine the pathologic status of the adrenal nodules.

RESULTS. Thirty adrenal lesions were malignant. Twenty-five of the 30 malignant nodules had positive PET results. Twelve of 82 benign nodules were PET positive with a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 85.4%. Patients with four of five malignant nodules with negative PET results had received previous therapy. The positive predictive value for detection of malignant lesions was 67%, and the negative predictive value was 93%.

CONCLUSION. Adrenal masses that are not FDG avid are likely to be benign with a high negative predictive value. Especially in patients undergoing therapy, however, there is a small but statistically significant false-negative rate. A considerable proportion of benign nodules have increased FDG activity.

Keywords: adrenal gland • malignancy • metastasis • PET/CT

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. TAMURA, K. YOSHIKAWA, H. ISHIKAWA, M. HASEBE, H. TSUJI, T. YANAGI, K. SUZUKI, A. KUBO, and H. TSUJII Carbon-11-Methionine PET Imaging of Choroidal Melanoma and the Time Course after Carbon Ion Beam Radiotherapy Anticancer Res, May 1, 2009; 29(5): 1507 - 1514. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]