Differentiating Solitary Pulmonary Metastases in Patients with Extrapulmonary Neoplasmas Using FDG–PET

Abstract

The purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate the characteristics of solitary pulmonary lesions in patients using extrapulmonary neoplasmas with 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG–PET). Thirty-two patients with extrapulmonary neoplasmas who had solitary pulmonary lesions and were suspected for pulmonary metastasis underwent an oncological survey with FDG–PET. Standard uptake value (SUV) and the ratio of lesion-to-background (L/B ratio) were used as parameters to differentiate and characterize the solitary pulmonary lesions. Using SUV >2.5 or L/B ratio >3 as the cutoff to diagnose malignancy, FDG–PET correctly identified 29 true-positive cases. However, FDG–PET failed to interpret two false-positive and one false-negative cases. The accuracy of FDG–PET was 91%. We concluded that FDG–PET is an accurate modality to differentiate solitary pulmonary lesions in patients with extrapulmonary neoplasmas.

• 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose
• Positron emission tomography
• Solitary pulmonary metastases