title: Metabolic restaging of hepatocellular carcinoma using whole-body F-FDG PET/CT.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the ability of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission and computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) in restaging of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed a database of the diagnostic performance of (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan for patients with HCC following local or regional treatment. The database consisted of (18)F-FDG PET/CT information of 21 male and 4 female (age range, 27-81 years; mean age, 51.6 years) patients who had received surgical resection and/or interventional treatments and then underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan. All patients had received enhanced CT scan of the liver two weeks before or after the (18)F-FDG PET/CT scan. Intrahepatic recurrence and/or extrahepatic metastases were confirmed by histological analysis or clinical and imaging follow-up. The accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET/CT study was determined by histopathological results or by clinical and imaging follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (18)F-FDG PET/CT was abnormal in 19 of the 25 (76.0%) patients. In detecting HCC recurrence, (18)F-FDG PET/CT scored 17 true positives, 5 true negatives, 2 false positives and 1 false negative. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET/CT in detecting HCC recurrence was 89.5%, 83.3% and 88%, respectively. (18)F-FDG PET/CT had an impact on management of these patients by settling the problem of an unexplained increase in alpha-fetoprotein after treatment (14 patients), by monitoring response to the treatment and guiding additional regional therapy (12 patients), by identifying extrahepatic metastases (10 patients), by identifying tumor growth or thrombosis in the portal vein (6 patients), or by guiding surgical resection of extrahepatic metastases (2 patients).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that whole body (18)F-FDG PET/CT may be useful in the early evaluation of residual, intrahepatic recurrent or extrahepatic metastatic lesions and able to provide valuable information for the management of HCC recurrence.
authors.affiliation: Long Sun, Wei-Min Pan, Zuo-Ming Luo, Ji-Hong Wei, Long Zhao, Hua Wu, Minnan PET Center and Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 316003, Fujian Province, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yong-Song
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Wei-Min
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Zuo-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Ji-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu