Comparison of whole-body PET/CT and PET/MRI in breast cancer patients: Lesion detection and quantitation of 18F-deoxyglucose uptake in lesions and in normal organ tissues: Pace L, Nicolai E, Luongo A, et al (Università degli Studi di Salerno, Italy; IRCCS–SDN, Napoli, Italy; Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy; et al) Eur J Radiol 83:289-296, 2014

Abstract

Evidence-based Rating: B Personal Rating: 3 Comparison of whole-body PET/CT and PET/MRI in breast cancer patients: Lesion detection and quantitation of 18F-deoxyglucose uptake in lesions and in normal organ tissues With the maturity of the MR-compatible PET imaging technology and rapidly increased installation of whole-body PET/MRI scanners, there is a strong interest to investigate the clinical role of PET/MRI, particularly in the management of oncologic patients. Several studies have been published to evaluate the location and contrast of detected lesions seen on PET/CT vs. PET/MRI, as well as to compare specific uptake value (SUV) in lesions and normal organs measured on PET/CT using CT-based attenuation correction vs. PET/MRI using MR-based attenuation correction.(1-8) Since PET/CT is an established clinical imaging modality for characterizing and staging of diseases, most PET/MRI imaging studies were designed as an add- on after the patient completed the PET/CT imaging, therefore capturing the uptake at a different time after a single-injection of the PET tracer, most commonly [F-18]FDG. Other than the biological factors that will lead to different tracer uptake and clearance after different waiting times, the difference in the design of PET scanners and the attenuation correction methods based on CT and MR all contributed to the differences in measured SUV by PET/CT and PET/MRI. In this article Pace and colleagues studied a series of 36 consecutive breast cancer patients, with a total of 74 FDG-positive lesions, including 25 primary tumors, 35 metastatic lymph nodes, and