title: Diagnostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT for cutaneous extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the use of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of cutaneous extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (C-ENK/T-NT).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 39 patients with newly diagnosed C-ENK/T-NT were enrolled between May 2006 and November 2013. Anatomic regions (n=429; five cutaneous and six extracutaneous regions per patient) were assessed using an F-FDG PET/CT scan and conventional staging methods (CSMs). F-FDG PET/CT and CSMs were compared and evaluated for their ability to detect tumor lesions and their influence on the staging and treatment strategies. Biopsy and clinical follow-up were used as the gold standard for diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 139 lesions were detected by CSMs and F-FDG PET/CT, of which there were 50 cutaneous and 89 extracutaneous-positive regions. F-FDG PET/CT detected 48 cutaneous and 88 extracutaneous regions. CSMs, however, detected only 34 cutaneous lesions and 61 extracutaneous lesions that were positive for malignancy (cutaneous comparison of PET/CT vs. CSMs, P<0.001; extracutaneous comparison of PET/CT vs. CSMs, P<0.05). Using F-FDG PET/CT, 8 (42%) patients were in stage I-II and 31 patients (58%) were in stage III-IV. F-FDG PET/CT staging was consistent with the final stage determination in 94.9% (37/39) of patients, whereas CSMs staging was correct in final stage determination in 74.4% (29/39) of patients (P=0.025).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that F-FDG PET/CT scanning is a valuable modality for the detection of cutaneous and extracutaneous lesions of C-ENK/T-NT. F-FDG PET/CT may therefore influence future staging and treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: Departments of aNuclear Medicine bDiagnostic Radiology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center cDepartment of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College dCenter for Biomedical Imaging, Fudan University eShanghai Engineering Research Center for Molecular Imaging Probes, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yingjian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mingwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaohang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Silong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001692:Biological Transport; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D054391:Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18