Abstract:
Objective To investigate the imaging features of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and differential diagnosis value in inflammatory-type non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods Retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 21 patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma (13 males and 8 females, aged 56~74(66.2±5.8) and 33 patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (20 males and 13 females, aged 48~84(64.6±9.6)), respectively, who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT from January 2015 to December 2020 at Fujian Medical University Union Hospital. In addition, the included patients were those whose lungs showed inflammation-like changes and were confirmed by histopathological examination. The CT and PET regions of interest were manually outlined. Then, the long and short diameters of the largest cross-sections of the lesions, CT values, maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), and peak standardized uptake values (SUVpeak) were measured. Moreover, the imaging signs (lesion morphology, bronchial signs, location of lesion onset, lymph node and spleen metabolism) were analyzed. The differences between the two groups were subsequently compared using the χ2 test, independent samples t-test, and corrected t-test.
Results There were fewer masses than solids in 21 patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma (28.6% vs.71.4%) and more masses than solids in 33 patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (57.6% vs. 42.4%), with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ2=4.342, P=0.037); the proportion of bronchial signs was higher in patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma than that in patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (90.5% vs. 75.8%), and the proportion of combined hypermetabolic lymph nodes was significantly lower than that in inflammatory-type NSCLC (14.3% vs. 48.5%), with no statistically significant difference between the two group (χ2=0.996, 3.288; both P>0.05); there were fewer unilateral than bilateral morbidities in patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma (23.8% vs. 85.7%) and more unilateral than bilateral in patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (84.8% vs.15.2%), with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ2=26.133, P<0.001); 11 cases of splenic hypermetabolism in patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma (52.4%) and none in inflammatory-type NSCLC, with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ2=21.708, P<0.001). The mean long and short diameters of patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma were shorter than those of patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (5.89±2.14) cm vs. (6.26±2.75) cm, (3.88±1.98) cm vs. (4.21±1.56) cm, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (t=−1.46, −1.87; both P>0.05). CT values were higher in patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma than that in patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (45.4±10.5) HU vs.(21.6±50.1) HU, and the difference between them was statistically significant (t=30.89, P<0.001); SUVmax and SUVpeak were lower in patients with pulmonary MALT lymphoma than those in patients with inflammatory-type NSCLC (5.71±2.10) vs. (9.89±4.53), (4.48±2.31) vs. (7.46±4.44), and the differences between them were statistically significant (t=−4.58, −3.23; both P<0.01).
Conclusions 18F-FDG PET/CT is of great value for the differential diagnosis of pulmonary MALT lymphoma and inflammatory-type NSCLC, in which SUVmax, SUVpeak, spleen metabolism, lesion morphology, lesion onset, and CT value in CT images can be used as reference indicators.