Diagnostic usefulness of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the differentiation of pulmonary artery sarcoma and pulmonary embolism.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in differentiating pulmonary artery sarcoma from pulmonary embolism.


METHODS
We evaluated three patients with pulmonary artery sarcoma and 10 patients with proximal pulmonary embolism (6 men and 7 women, ranging in age from 35 to 94 years). All the patients had evidence of perfusion defects in their proximal pulmonary arteries on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans performed prior to PET/CT. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) of FDG uptake in all the lesions was measured using PET/CT. The location of lesions, background uptake or thrombi in the legs were evaluated in both groups as basic characteristics.


RESULTS
The mean SUV(max) of the pulmonary artery sarcomas (7.63 +/- 2.21, n = 3) and the pulmonary embolisms (2.31 +/- 0.41, n = 10) were significantly different (P < 0.05). The mean times between the initial contrast-enhanced CT scan and PET/CT scan were similar in both groups (P = 0.7804). The differences in the locations in lesions between the three groups (right, left and bilateral) or background uptakes were not significant.


CONCLUSIONS
FDG PET/CT could distinguish pulmonary artery sarcoma from pulmonary embolism based on the SUV(max) value.
Ito
Kimiteru
K
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Saitama Medical University International Medical Center, Hidaka, Saitama 350-1298, Japan. itoukimiteru@yahoo.co.jp
Kubota
Kazuo
K
Morooka
Miyako
M
Shida
Yoshitaka
Y
Hasuo
Kanehiro
K
Endo
Hisako
H
Matsuda
Hiroshi
H
D000328:Adult; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18