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18F-FDG PET as a single imaging modality in pediatric neuroblastoma: comparison with abdomen CT and bone scintigraphy

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An Erratum to this article was published on 22 February 2014

Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) as a single imaging agent in neuroblastoma in comparison with other imaging modalities.

Methods

A total of 30 patients with pathologically proven neuroblastoma who underwent FDG PET for staging were enrolled. Diagnostic performance of FDG PET and abdomen CT was compared in detecting soft tissue lesions. FDG PET and bone scintigraphy (BS) were compared in bone metastases. Maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of primary or recurrent lesions was calculated for quantitative analysis.

Results

Tumor FDG uptake was detected in 29 of 30 patients with primary neuroblastoma. On initial FDG PET, SUVmax of primary lesions were lower in early stage (I–II) than in late stage (III–IV) (3.03 vs. 5.45, respectively, p = 0.019). FDG PET was superior to CT scan in detecting distant lymph nodes (23 vs. 18 from 23 lymph nodes). FDG PET showed higher accuracy to identify bone metastases than BS both on patient-based analyses (100 vs. 94.4 % in sensitivity, 100 vs. 77.8 % in specificity), and on lesion-based analyses (FDG PET: 203 lesions, BS: 86 lesions). Sensitivity and specificity of FDG PET to detect recurrence were 87.5 % and 93.8, respectively.

Conclusion

FDG PET was superior to CT in detecting distant LN metastasis and to BS in detecting skeletal metastasis in neuroblastoma. BS might be eliminated in the evaluation of neuroblastoma when FDG PET is performed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (National Research Foundation of Korea, NRF-2011-013-E00038, NRF-2012R1A1A2041563 and No. 2012027276).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hallym University Medical Center, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Yun Jung Choi & Hee Sung Hwang

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Hyun Jeong Kim, Yong Hyu Jeong, Arthur Cho, Jae Hoon Lee, Mijin Yun, Jong Doo Lee & Won Jun Kang

  3. Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seongsanno 250, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-752, Korea

    Won Jun Kang

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  1. Yun Jung Choi
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Correspondence to Won Jun Kang.

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Choi, Y.J., Hwang, H.S., Kim, H.J. et al. 18F-FDG PET as a single imaging modality in pediatric neuroblastoma: comparison with abdomen CT and bone scintigraphy. Ann Nucl Med 28, 304–313 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-014-0813-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-014-0813-1

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