Abstract:
Objective To investigate the value of 18F-FDG PET-CT in the diagnosis of the adrenal metastasis and study its diagnostic criteria.
Methods Fifty-nine patients with adrenal metastasis and 18 patients with adrenal benign tumor underwent 18F-FDG PET-CT, all of the adrenal lesion's diameter and FDG maximum standardized uptake values(SUVmax), SUVmax of normal liver were measured and analyzed comprehensively. All lesions underwent biopsy after operation or follow-up in clinic or imaging diagnosis for final diagnosis.
Results There were 78 adrenal lesions of 59 cases with adrenal metastasis, and 21 adrenal lesions of 18 cases with adrenal benign. The SUVmax of adrenals metastasis was 7.05±5.26, while benign tumor was 2.27±1.35, statistical significant difference was found between the 2 groups(t=7.199, P < 0.01). The short diameter of adrenal metastasis was (1.66±0.91) cm, benign tumor was (1.52±1.05) cm, there was no statistical significant difference between the 2 groups(t=0.529, P > 0.05). Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis showed that using lesion's SUVmax > 3.1 as the diagnostic criteria of benign and metastatic adrenal lesions, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 18F-FDG PET- CT in diagnosis of adrenals metastasis were 83.3%, 90.5% and 84.9%, respectively. But if using the SUVmax of adrenal lesion exceeds normal liver tissue as the diagnostic criteria, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 96.2%, 90.5% and 95.0%. For adrenals metastasis, the correlation coefficient between lesion size(short diameter) and SUVmax was 0.501. Among all 59 cases with adrenal metastasis, 30(50.8%) patients' lesions in the left adrenal gland, 10(16.9%)in the right side and 19(32.2%) in the both sides.
Conclusion 18F-FDG PET-CT has high sensitivity and accurate in diagnosis of adrenal metastasis, and the SUVmax of adrenal lesion exceeds normal liver tissue is a better diagnostic criteria. The size of adrenal metastasis lesions has certain correlation with its SUVmax and the lesions often in the left side gland and lung cancer is the more common primary tumor.