ABSTRACT
Background and purpose:The proportion of incidental thyroid cancer in PET imaging was sig-niifcantly increased with the wide application of18F-FDG PET/CT. The correlation between the glucose metabolism of thyroid incidental thyroid cancer and pathological changes is unclear. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between the glucose metabolism by18F-FDG PET/CT and tumor differentiation or lymph node metastasis in patients with incidental thyroid cancer.Methods:A total of 195 patients with focal FDG-avid thyroid incidentaloma during cancer evaluation were enrolled. Fifty-three patients were diagnosed as having thyroid cancer by the pathology. The SUVmax of thyroid cancer foci, lesion size, lesion number, and SUVmax of normal thyroid tissue were quantiifed. The tumor pathological grades and lymph node metastasis were analyzed by the pathology. The patients were broken down into 4 groups (G1, G2, G3 and G4) according to the tumor pathological grades and lymph node metastasis (differentiated thyroid cancer, non-differentiated thyroid cancer, without lymph node metastasis and with lymph node metastasis). The differences of glucose metabolism between G1and G2groups, G3 and G4 groups were analyzed.Results:Fifty-three foci were found by PET imaging. Sixty-two foci were found by the pathology (37 papillary thyroid carcinoma, 4 follicular thyroid carcinoma, 9 medullary thyroid carcinoma, 3 poorly differentiated thyroid cancer). The SUVmax in the normal thyroid tissue, G1and G2were 1.51±0.30, 4.25±1.70 and 6.34±2.45, respectively. The SUVmax in the G1and G2were signiifcantly higher than in the normal thyroid tissue (t=11.0,t=7.10,P0.05;t=0.33,P=0.56).Conclusion:The differentiated incidental thyroid carcinoma and non-differentiated incidental thyroid carcinoma had high glucose metabolism, and there was no signiifcant difference in the levels of glucose metabolism in different differentiation degree and metastasis ability cancer.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Considering the increased use of [18F]FDG PET or PET/CT, the clinical significance of thyroid incidentalomas is the subject of controversy. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of malignancies associated with thyroid incidentalomas detected by pre-treatment PET or PET/CT in patients with cervical cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with cervical cancer who had thyroid incidentalomas detected by pre-treatment PET or PET/CT and were treated at our institute between January 2001 and December 2009. RESULTS: Of 327 patients who underwent pre-treatment PET or PET/CT, 33 patients had thyroid incidentalomas (10.1%) and 4 patients were diagnosed with thyroid malignancies by percutaneous needle aspiration (PCNA) or surgery. To put it concretely, of 33 patients with thyroid incidentaloma, 16 patients had a diffuse uptake and 17 patients had a focal uptake. Four of 17 patients with focal uptake were diagnosed with thyroid malignancies (23.5%). One patient with a focal uptake had an atypical cell based on PCNA, but did not undergo additional studies. The mean SUVmax of thyroid malignancies did not differ from that of benign thyroid diseases. CONCLUSION: Thyroid incidentalomas are frequently detected by pre-treatment PET or PET/CT in patients with cervical cancer. Focal uptake on PET or PET/CT has a high risk of thyroid cancer.