Value of using liver FDG uptake as background activity in standardizing FDG PET/CT studies
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Abstract
The standardized uptake value (SUV) is increasingly being used for diagnosis, staging, and monitoring disease in clinical oncology. Comparing tumor SUV to background SUV is an attractive way to minimize variability and ensure
the quality of scans across different institutions. The liver has been identified as a
potential source for background normalization, however no studies have
compared the liver to other background sites for a variety of cancers. The
purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of liver uptake for the
standardization of FDG PET/CT imaging. Scans from 145 patients were
prospectively reviewed under the supervision of a radiologist with board
certification in nuclear medicine (R.M.S. , 3 years of experience). Liver SUV
values were correlated to mediastinum SUV values in lung and breast cancer
patients, and internal jugular vein (IJV) SUV values in head and neck cancer
patients. The independent t-test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant affect of the amount of incubation time or use of intravenous contrast
on the SUV. For the lung and breast cancer patients, a strong correlation was
observed between the mediastinum SUVmean and liver SUVmean (r = 0.89),
whereas for the head and neck cancer patients, a weaker correlation was
observed between the IJV SUVmean and the liver SUVmean (r = 0.69). Neither the
amount of incubation time nor the use of IV contrast demonstrated a significant
affect on the SUV. We conclude that liver SUVmean may be used to standardize
FOG PET/CT studies in cancers of the lung, breast and head and neck.
However, additional studies in other cancers as well as the affects of age,
gender, benign disease and use of chemotherapy are still desired before
widespread adoption of this standard.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University
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