title: [Clinical role of F-18 FDG PET/CT in differentiating malignant and benign pleural effusion in patients with lung cancer].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pleural effusions, a common feature among patients with lung cancer, should be differentiated into benign or malignant pleural effusions. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is one of accurate diagnostic tool for differentiating benign from malignant disease and for mediastinal lymph node staging. We explored the clinical role of PET/CT for differentiating malignant pleural effusion from benign pleural effusion among patients with lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the data from all patients with lung cancer and pleural effusion who underwent F-18 FDG PET/CT. The PET/CT results were compared with the pathologic diagnosis or clinical follow-up. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of PET/CT for detecting malignant pleural metastases were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 33 patients were enrolled. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of PET/CT were 81.5%, 83.3%, 95.7%, 50.0%, and 81.8%, respectively, for detecting malignant pleural effusions lung cancer patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that F-18 FDG PET/CT can play a significant role in diagnosing lung cancer patients with pleural diffusions, with low false-positive rate. However, negative findings under PET/CT should be confirmed through further tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary Oncology, Cancer Center, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Lung Cancer Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China.
authors.forename: Riqiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Xuening
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Siyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Wenzhao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Yilong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18