Characteristics of Studies Evaluating 18F-FDG PET for Diagnosis or Grading of STS
| Study | Mean age (range) | Patients with STL | Evaluable patients* (lesions) | Malignant (%) | Inclusion/exclusion criteria | Primary/recurrent | Design |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schwarzbach 2000 | 54 (16–78) | 50 | 47 (56) | 35 (63) | Consecutive patients suspected of STS from clinical symptoms and MRI or CT | 19/37 | Prospective |
| Watanabe 2000 | 47 (12–77) | 37 | 37 (37) | 7 (19) | Patients referred for STM evaluation after CT, MRI, or angiography | 33/4 | Unclear |
| Griffeth 1992 | 50 (16–84) | 21 | 19 (20) | 10 (50) | Patients referred for STM evaluation after CT or MRI | 10/10? | Unclear |
| Schulte 1999 | 49 (1–89) | 102 | 102 (102) | 66 (65) | Patients with STL suggestive of benign or malignant tumor on US or MRI | 88/14 | Prospective |
| Lucas 1999 | 51 (6–85) | 30 | 30 (31) | 19 (61) | Consecutive patients with suspected STS from clinical symptoms and MRI | 31/0 | Unclear |
| Nieweg 1996 | 50 (18–82) | 22 | 22 (22) | 18 (82) | Patients suspected of STS from clinical findings | 22/0 | Prospective |
| Hain 1999 | 39 (11–81) | 16 | 16 (16) | 2 (13) | Patients after amputation for STS, evaluated for recurrence | 0/16 | Retrospective |
| Kern 1988 | 30 (12–63) | 4 | 4 (4) | 3 (75) | Patients referred with STM | 4/0 | Unclear |
| Lucas 1998 | 51 (3–84) | 62 | 62 (72) | 19 (26) | STS patients evaluated for local recurrence | 0/72 | Retrospective |
| Lodge 1999 | 50 (18–76) | 29 | 29 (29) | 12 (41) | STM suspected to be malignant based on clinical examination and MRI | 29/0 | Prospective |
| van Ginkel 1996 | 49 (18–80) | 20 | 7 (7) | 7 (100) | Patients with biopsy-proven recurrent STS, assessed before HILP therapy | 0/7 | Prospective |
| Kole 1997 | 54 (32–83) | 17 | 17 (17) | 15 (88) | Patients with proven or suspected local recurrence of STS | 0/17 | Prospective |
| Ferner 2000 | 26 (12–62) | 15 | 15 (19) | 5 (26) | Patients with neurofibromatosis with symptomatic visible neurofibromas | 19/0 | Unclear |
| Adler 1990 | ND (41–85) | 5 | 5 (5) | 5 (100) | Patients with liposarcoma of the thigh | 5/0 | Prospective? |
| Jones 1996 | 54 (46–65) | 4 | 4 (4) | 4 (100) | Histologically confirmed STS with planned radiotherapy/hyperthermia | 4/0 | Unclear |
↵* In Schwarzbach et al. (2000), 3 patients were excluded because of no biopsy or technical failure; in Griffeth et al. (1992), 2 patients were excluded because of no diagnostic documentation or follow-up; in van Ginkel et al. (1996), 20 patients with STS were assessed, but those with primary lesions overlapped with patients included in Nieweg et al. (1996). Thus, only the 7 recurrent lesions were considered in all analyses and are listed in table.
STL = soft-tissue lesion; STM = soft-tissue mass; US = ultrasound; HILP = hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion; ND = no data.
Whenever both soft-tissue lesions and other lesions were included (Watanabe, Kern, Ferner, Jones), only data on soft-tissue lesions are presented in table. Median age is provided in Schwarzbach et al. (2000) and in Schulte et al. (1999).