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Value of FDG PET in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma with Negative ¹³¹I Whole-Body Scan

Departments of Nuclear Medicine, Internal Medicine and Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: For correspondence or reprints contact: June-Key Chung, MD, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, 28 Yungundong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Korea.

ABSTRACT

The management of metastatic thyroid carcinoma patients with a negative ¹³¹I scan presents considerable problems. Fifty-four athyrotic papillary thyroid carcinoma patients whose ¹³¹I whole-body scans were negative underwent ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET; the purpose was to determine whether this procedure could localize metastatic sites. We also assessed its usefulness in the management of these patients. Methods: Whole-body emission scan was performed 60 min after the injection of 370–555 MBq ¹⁸F-FDG, and additional regional attenuation-corrected scans were obtained. Metastasis was pathologically confirmed in 12 patients and was confirmed in other patients by overall clinical evaluation of the findings of other imaging studies and of the subsequent clinical course. Results: In 33 patients, tumor had metastasized, whereas 21 patients were in remission. FDG PET revealed metastases in 31 patients (sensitivity 93.9%), whereas thyroglobulin levels were elevated in 18 patients (sensitivity 54.5%). FDG PET was positive in 14 of 15 metastatic cancer patients with normal thyroglobulin levels. In 20 of 21 patients in remission, FDG PET was negative (specificity 95.2%), whereas thyroglobulin levels were normal in 16 patients (specificity 76.1%). The sensitivity and specificity of FDG PET were significantly higher than those of serum thyroglobulin. In patients with negative ¹³¹I scans, FDG PET detected cervical lymph node metastasis in 87.9%, lung metastasis in 27.3%, mediastinal metastasis in 33.3% and bone metastasis in 9.1%. In contrast, among 117 patients with ¹³¹I scan-positive functional metastases, ¹³¹I scan detected cervical lymph node metastasis in 61.5%, lung metastasis in 56.4%, mediastinal metastasis in 22.2% and bone metastasis in 16.2%. In all 5 patients in whom thyroglobulin was false-negative with negative antithyroglobulin antibody, PET showed increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in cervical lymph nodes, mediastinal lymph nodes, or both. Among patients with increased ¹⁸F-FDG uptake only in the cervical lymph nodes, the nodes were dissected in 11. Metastasis was confirmed in all, even in normal-sized lymph nodes. Conclusion: FDG PET scan localized metastatic sites in ¹³¹I scan-negative thyroid carcinoma patients with high accuracy. In particular, it was superior to ¹³¹I whole-body scan and serum thyroglobulin measurement for detecting metastases to cervical lymph nodes. FDG PET was helpful for determining the surgical management of these patients.

Key Words: papillary thyroid carcinoma • PET • ¹⁸F-flurodeoxyglucose • ¹³¹I whole-body scan • thyroglobulin

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