Comparative study of FDG PET/CT and conventional imaging in the staging of rhabdomyosarcoma.
OBJECTIVE
The current study was conducted to compare the diagnostic accuracy between (18)F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D: -glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), and conventional imaging (CI) for the staging and re-staging of patients with rhabdomyosarcomas.


METHODS
Thirty-five patients who underwent FDG PET/CT prior to treatment were evaluated retrospectively. CI methods consisted of (99m)Tc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy, chest radiograph, whole body CT, and magnetic resonance imaging of the primary site. The images were reviewed and two boardcertified radiologists reached a diagnostic consensus. Tumor stage was confirmed by histological examination and/or follow-up examinations.


RESULTS
Interpretation on the basis of FDG PET/CT, and CI, diagnostic accuracies of the T and N stages were similar. Using FDG PET/CT, the M stage was correctly assigned in 31 patients (89%), whereas the accuracy of CI in M stage was 63%. TNM stage was correctly assessed with FDG PET/CT in 30 of 35 patients (86%) and with CI in 19 of 35 patients (54%). The overall TNM staging and M staging accuracies of FDG PET/CT were significantly higher than that of CI (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
FDG PET/CT is more accurate than CI regarding clinical staging and re-staging of patients with rhabdomyosarcomas.
Tateishi
Ukihide
U
Department of Radiology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0004, Japan. utateish@yokohama-cu.ac.jp
Hosono
Ako
A
Makimoto
Atsushi
A
Nakamoto
Yuki
Y
Kaneta
Tomohiro
T
Fukuda
Hiroshi
H
Murakami
Koji
K
Terauchi
Takashi
T
Suga
Tsuyoshi
T
Inoue
Tomio
T
Kim
Edmund E
EE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18