title: Oncological diagnosis using positron coincidence gamma camera with fluorodeoxyglucose in comparison with dedicated PET.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the utility of a dual-head positron coincidence detection gamma camera (PCD) with that of dedicated positron emission tomography (PET) in the imaging of various malignancies using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). 25 patients with known or suspected malignancies at various sites underwent imaging with both methods, and diagnostic performance on a lesion basis was compared. Tumour lesions were analyzed visually and semi-quantitatively using the ratio of tumour-to-background counts (T/B ratio). FDG PCD and FDG PET visually detected 34 (72.3%) lesions and 37 (78.7%) lesions, respectively. The mean T/B ratio and standard deviation (SD) of FDG PCD was 3.5+/-3.3, significantly lower than that of FDG PET (8.4+/-7.1, p<0.001). When tumour lesions were less than 2.0 cm in diameter, the sensitivity of FDG PCD was 37.5%, significantly inferior to that of FDG PET (50.0%, p<0.01). Sensitivity between FDG PCD and FDG PET in lesions of more than 2.0 cm diameter showed no statistically significant difference. This study indicates that FDG imaging with a dual-head coincidence detection gamma camera can provide suitable diagnostic performance for lesions greater than 2.0 cm diameter, but performed significantly worse than dedicated PET for lesions smaller than this.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology, Gunma University School of Medicine, Showa-machi 3-39-22, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oriuchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Endo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18