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Characterization of the Normal Adrenal Gland with ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT

¹ Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
² Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Prior studies have documented increased ¹⁸F-FDG adrenal activity in both benign and malignant pathologic conditions. When whole-body PET imaging is performed without CT anatomic coregistration, however, the normal adrenal gland is difficult to recognize. The purpose of this study was to investigate the normal adrenal appearance and standardized uptake value (SUV) using ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging. Methods: Twenty patients with lymphoma with normal-appearing adrenal glands on prior CT examination (less than a 5% pretest likelihood of adrenal involvement) were studied. PET/CT imaging was performed 2 h after intravenous administration of ¹⁸F-FDG. Unenhanced CT scans were acquired for attenuation correction and anatomic coregistration. PET images were reconstructed using an ordered-subsets expectation maximization algorithm and were corrected for body weight, dose, and radioactive decay. Ability to confirm visualization of the adrenal glands was determined for ¹⁸F-FDG PET alone and for ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT by a consensus of 2 readers, and uptake of ¹⁸F-FDG in the adrenal gland was compared with liver activity and scored visually (0 = no visualization, 1 = activity less than in liver, 2 = activity equal to liver activity, and 3 = activity greater than in liver). Results: The 2 readers agreed on visualization of the adrenal glands with PET alone for 2 of 40 (5%) glands. With PET/CT, the readers agreed on visualization of 27 of 40 (68%) adrenal glands. Visual scores for normal adrenal activity ranged from 0 to 3, and maximum SUVs ranged from 0.95 to 2.46. Visual scoring of adrenal activity correlated well with both mean and maximal SUV (mean SUV vs. visual score: slope = 0.96, r = 0.88; maximum SUV vs. visual score: slope = 0.99, r = 0.87). Conclusion: PET/CT permits more reliable visualization of normal adrenal glands than does PET alone. Visual assessment of adrenal uptake correlates well with SUV measurement, and readers of PET/CT need to be aware of the wide range of normal adrenal uptake.

Key Words: ¹⁸F-FDG • adrenal gland • PET/CT • standardized uptake value

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