title: Clinical Significance of Incidental Focal Versus Diffuse Thyroid Uptake on FDG-PET Imaging.
abstract: The number of incidentally detected thyroid lesions found with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography is increasing. Malignant cases incidentally found with this technique are mainly primary thyroid cancers, particularly papillary thyroid carcinoma, which tend to harbor a higher rate of unfavorable prognostic features than routinely diagnosed primary thyroid cancers. The significance of standardized uptake values in predicting malignancy of incidental thyroid fluorodeoxyglucose uptake is controversial, and more studies are needed to establish its role in differentiating benign and malignant incidental thyroid fluorodeoxyglucose uptake. In this article, we review recent publications regarding incidental thyroid lesions found on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and their differential diagnosis, including the risk for malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 110 Donner, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Wengen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 110 Donner, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Geming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 110 Donner, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 110 Donner, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, South 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Hongming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 110 Donner, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: abass.alavi@uphs.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Abass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alavi
keywords: FDG-PET; Incidental uptake; Thyroid