Integrated FDG-PET-CT: its role in the assessment of bone and soft tissue tumors.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate prospectively, whether integrated 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D: -glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (FDG-PET-CT) is more accurate for determination musculoskeletal tumors compared with separate interpretation of CT and FDG-PET, because most of the current clinical data come from patients studied with PET.


METHODS
Eighty patients with newly diagnosed musculoskeletal tumors underwent FDG-PET-CT. CT, FDG-PET, and FDG-PET-CT were interpreted separately to determine the performance of each imaging modality.


RESULTS
Assuming that equivocal lesions are benign, performance of diagnostic tests was as follows: sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for CT alone was 81, 84, 83%, for PET 71, 82, 76, and for PET-CT 80, 83 and 86%. Assuming that equivocal lesions are malignant, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for CT was 61, 100, 70%, for PET 69, 100, 79, and for PET-CT 69, 100 and 79%.


CONCLUSIONS
Combined FDG-PET-CT reliably differentiates soft tissue and bone tumors from benign lesions. The value of the information provided by FDG-PET-CT for planning surgical procedures must be evaluated in further studies.
Bischoff
Mark
M
Department of Trauma, Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Ulm, Germany.
Bischoff
Gisela
G
Buck
Andreas
A
von Baer
Alexandra
A
Pauls
Sandra
S
Scheffold
Florian
F
Schultheiss
Markus
M
Gebhard
Florian
F
Reske
Sven N
SN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019042:Muscle Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18