(18)F-FDG PET/CT is Useful for Pretreatment Assessment of the Histopathologic Type of Thymic Epithelial Tumors

Overview

Journal Nucl Med Mol Imaging

Publisher Springer

Date 2014 Jun 6

PMID 24899947

Citations 13

Authors

Ji Young Kim

Hye Ok Kim

Jae Seung Kim

Dae Hyuk Moon

Yong Hee Kim

Dong Kwan Kim

Seung-Ii Park

Young Soo Park

Jin-Sook Ryu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: This study was performed to assess the usefulness of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) or PET/computed tomography (CT) for distinguishing thymic epithelial tumors according to World Health Organization (WHO) classifications.

Methods: We analyzed a total of 45 patients (range, 29-75 years of age; mean, 55 years) with pathologically confirmed thymic epithelial tumors who underwent pretreatment (18)F-FDG PET or PET/CT between November 2003 and October 2009. The size, visual grading of uptake value, peak standardized uptake value (SUVpeak), uptake pattern, and contour of each tumor, and associated findings on PET or PET/CT, were analyzed relative to the three simplified WHO subgroups: less-invasive thymomas (types A and AB), more-invasive thymomas (types B1, B2, and B3) and thymic carcinomas. We statistically assessed the relationship of (18)F-FDG PET or PET/CT findings with these simplified subgroups.

Results: Of the 45 patients, ten had less-invasive thymomas, 23 had more-invasive thymomas, and 12 had thymic carcinomas. The SUVpeak of the less- and more-invasive thymomas were significantly lower than those of thymic carcinomas (p < 0.000), but there was no difference in SUVpeak between less- and more-invasive thymomas. The visual grading scale (p < 0.000), uptake pattern (p = 0.001), and contour (p < 0.000) of the tumors differed significantly among the three simplified subgroups.

Conclusion: The image findings of (18)F-FDG PET or PET/CT differed significantly by histologic subgroups. Pre-treatment evaluation with (18)F-FDG PET or PET/CT might be helpful in differentiating subgroups of thymic epithelial tumors.

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