Abstract:
Objective To investigate the diagnostic values of
18F-FDG and 3′-deoxy-3′-
18F-fluorothymidine(
18F-FLT) PET/CT for solitary pulmonary nodules. Methods
18F-FDG and
18F-FLT PET/CT imaging were performed in 40 patients with solitary pulmonary nodules. All cases were confirmed by pathology or follow-up. The diagnostic values of
18F-FDG SUV
max,
18F-FLT SUV
max, and
18F-FLT/the same level of vertebral SUV
max for pulmonary malignant tumor were compared using the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves.
18F-FDG and
18F-FLT imaging results were analyzed by visual observation and semi-quantitative analysis. The diagnostic efficiencies of the different diagnostic methods were compared. Results Areas under the ROC curves of
18F-FDG SUV
max,
18F-FLT SUV
max, and
18F-FLT/ same level of vertebral SUV
max were 0.687, 0.821, and 0.817, respectively. The diagnostic sensitivities, specificities, and accuracies of tested diagnostic tools were as follows:
18F-FDG SUV
max > 2.5 as the malignant diagnostic criteria, 88.2%, 73.9% and 80.0%;
18F-FLT SUV
max > 2.0 as the malignant diagnostic criteria, 58.8%, 82.6% and 72.5%;
18F-FDG PET/CT visual analysis of scoring method, 94.1%, 91.3% and 92.5%; and
18F-FLT PET/CT for visual analysis of scoring method 88.2%, 65.2% and 75.0%. Conclusions
18F-FLT SUV
max and
18F-FLT/vertebral SUV
max showed higher accuracies in diagnosing solitary pulmonary modules compared with
18F-FDG SUV
max.
18F-FDG PET/CT visual scoring method was the most effective in diagnosing solitary pulmonary nodules.