title: Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in thyroid cancer: results of a multicentre study.
abstract: The aim of this multicentre study was to evaluate the clinical significance of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in differentiated thyroid carcinoma and to compare the results with both iodine-131 whole-body scintigraphy (WBS) and technetium-99m 2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) or thallium-201 chloride (Tl) scintigraphy. Whole-body PET imaging using FDG was performed in 222 patients: 134 with papillary tumours, 80 with follicular tumours and 8 with mixed-cell type tumours. Finally, for each case an overall clinical evaluation was done including histology, cytology, thyroglobulin level, ultrasonography, computed tomography and subsequent clinical course, to allow a comparison with functional imaging results. Sensitivity of FDG-PET was 75% and 85% for the whole patient group (n = 222) and the group with negative radioiodine scan (n = 166), respectively. Specificity was 90% in the whole patient group. Sensitivity and specificity of WBS were 50% and 99%, respectively. When the results of FDG-PET and WBS were considered in combination, tumour tissue was missed in only 7%. Sensitivity and specificity of MIBI/Tl were 53% and 92%, respectively (n = 117). We conclude that FDG-PET is a sensitive method in the follow-up of thyroid cancer which should be considered in all patients suffering from differentiated thyroid cancer with suspected recurrence and/or metastases, and particularly in those with elevated thyroglobulin values and negative WBS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Grünwald
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kälicke
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Feine
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lietzenmayer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Scheidhauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dietlein
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schober
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lerch
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brandt-Mainz
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Burchert
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hiltermann
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Cremerius
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Biersack
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18