title: The Role of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in the Evaluation of Peritoneal Thickening of Undetermined Origin.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for the differentiation of peritoneal thickening of undetermined origin. This retrospective study included 103 patients (44 men and 59 women, age 59.2 ± 14.8 years) who had undergone 18F-FDG PET/CT for the evaluation of peritoneal thickening of undetermined origin. All 18F-FDG PET/CT images were visually interpreted, and the maximal standardized uptake values (SUVmax) were measured. We compared the role of 18F-FDGPET/CT with that of CT alone in detecting peritoneal thickening of undetermined origin. We also compared the differences between malignant and tuberculous peritoneal thickening in PET/CT parameters and clinical characteristics. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy in detecting the primary cause of the peritoneal thickening were 76.2%, 78.9%, 94.1%, 42.9%, and 81.2%, respectively, for 18F-FDG PET/CT, and 58.3%, 84.2%, 94.2%, 31.4%, and 63.1%, respectively, for CT imaging. Malignant peritoneal thickening had significantly higher SUVmax than nontuberculous benign peritoneal thickening. However, tuberculous peritoneal thickening also had a high SUVmax. There were some factors that were significantly different between patients with tuberculous peritoneal thickening and those with malignant peritoneal thickening in our study; these included age, pattern of peritoneal thickening, and presence of ascites. 18F-FDG PET/CT is useful for detecting the underlying cause of peritoneal thickening. Special attention should be paid to peritoneal tuberculosis, which has a high SUVmax and may mimic malignant peritoneal thickening. Multiple PET/CT parameters which were different in patients with tuberculous and malignant causes could be taken into consideration to make the differential diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (RHC, YMC, LL, XZ, JJL, GH); and Department of Cancer Metabolism, Institute of Health Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School Medicine, Shanghai, China (GH); Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences (SHMHS) (GH).
authors.forename: Ruohua
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yumei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D010532:Peritoneal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D014395:Peritonitis, Tuberculous / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18