Abstract
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive primary neoplasm for which early detection and accurate staging are known diagnostic challenges. The role of 18F-FDG dual-head gamma-camera coincidence imaging (18F-FDG-CI) is yet to be defined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of 18F-FDG-CI in the assessment of malignant pleural mesothelioma using histopathology as the gold standard. Methods: Fifteen consecutive patients with CT scan evidence of pleural thickening, fluid, plaques, or calcification underwent 18F-FDG imaging 1.5 h after the intravenous administration of 370 MBq 18F-FDG. Imaging was performed with a dual-head gamma camera equipped with 2.54-cm-thick NaI crystals operating in coincidence mode. Using an iterative algorithm, whole-body images were reconstructed as transaxial, sagittal, and coronal images. No attenuation correction was applied. The results of 18F-FDG-CI scans were compared with CT and with histopathologic diagnosis. Results: Eleven of 15 patients had histologically proven malignant mesotheliomas (10 epithelial, 1 sarcomatoid). All 11 primary tumors were detected by 18F-FDG, and absence of disease was confirmed in the 4 patients who were disease free. Thirty-four lesions were biopsied; among these, 29 were found to be positive for tumor. 18F-FDG was true-positive in 28 lesions, true-negative in 4, false-negative in 1 (0.5 cm in diameter), and false-positive in 1 (inflammatory pleuritis). The smallest lesion detected was 0.8 cm. For biopsied lesions, overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for 18F-FDG-CI were 97%, 80%, and 94% respectively, compared with 83%, 80%, and 82% for CT. Twenty-one of 29 positive lesions involved the pleura, lung parenchyma, or chest wall and were all 18F-FDG avid. In the mediastinum, 18F-FDG-CI detected 7 of 8 biopsy-positive lesions (88%), whereas CT was positive in 6 of 8 lesions (75%). 18F-FDG identified extrathoracic metastases in 5 patients, excluding them from surgical therapy. Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that 18F-FDG-CI appears to be an accurate method to diagnose and to define the extent of disease in patients with diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Footnotes
Received Feb. 4, 2002; revision accepted May 17, 2002.
For correspondence or reprints contact: Victor H. Gerbaudo, PhD, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115.
E-mail: vgerbaudo{at}bics.bwh.harvard.edu
