title: Bone Windows for Distinguishing Malignant from Benign Primary Bone Tumors on FDG PET/CT.
abstract: Objective. The default window setting on PET/CT workstations is soft tissue. This study investigates whether bone windowing and hybrid FDG PET/CT can help differentiate between malignant and benign primary bone tumors. Materials and methods. A database review included 98 patients with malignant (n=64) or benign primary bone (n=34) tumors. The reference standard was biopsy for malignancies and biopsy or >1 year imaging follow-up of benign tumors. Three radiologists and/or nuclear medicine physicians blinded to diagnosis and other imaging viewed the lesions on CT with bone windows (CT-BW) without and then with PET (PET/CT-BW), and separate PET-only images for malignancy or benignity. Three weeks later the tumors were viewed on CT with soft tissue windows (CT-STW) without and then with PET (PET/CT-STW). Results. Mean sensitivity and specificity for identifying malignancies included: CT-BW: 96%, 90%; CT-STW: 90%, 90%; PET/CT-BW: 95%, 85%, PET/CT-STW: 95%, 86% and PET-only: 96%, 75%, respectively. CT-BW demonstrated higher specificity than PET-only and PET/CT-BW (p=0.0005 and p=0.0103, respectively) and trended toward higher sensitivity than CT-STW (p=0.0759). Malignant primary bone tumors were more avid than benign lesions overall (p<0.0001) but the avidity of benign aggressive lesions (giant cell tumors and Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis) trended higher than the malignancies (p=0.08). Conclusion. Bone windows provided high specificity for distinguishing between malignant and benign primary bone tumors and are recommended when viewing FDG PET/CT.
authors: 1. Department of Diagnostic Radiology.
authors: Colleen M
authors: CM
authors: Costelloe
authors: Hubert H
authors: HH
authors: Chuang
authors: Beth A
authors: BA
authors: Chasen
authors: Tinsu
authors: T
authors: Pan
authors: Patricia S
authors: PS
authors: Fox
authors: Roland L
authors: RL
authors: Bassett
authors: John E
authors: JE
authors: Madewell
keywords: CT; FDG PET/CT; bone window; primary bone tumor; soft tissue window.
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