The Evaluation of Short-Term Outcome of Neuroblastoma in Children by 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging and Ultrasonography

Abstract

Objective: By exploring and analyzing the evaluation of the short-term outcome of neuroblastoma (NB) in children by fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) imaging and ultrasonography, the detailed values of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging and ultrasonography in diagnosing and treating NB in children were discussed. The effectiveness and superiority of the two evaluation methods were verified, providing a theoretical basis for clinical applications. Methods: Child patients with NB diagnosis were included as research objects. Except for child patients in the IVs stage, other included child patients received the same surgical therapeutic plan. The clinical materials included child patients were collected, such as 18F-FDG PET/CT results, ultrasonography results, and serum neuron specific enolase (NSE) results. The data information was input into the database and statistically analyzed by SPSS 22.0 software. The specificity as well as sensitivity of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging, ultrasonography, and serum NSE in the clinical evaluation were comparatively analyzed. The detection rates of 8F-FDG PET/CT imaging, ultrasonography, as well as other diagnostic ways were comparatively analyzed. Results: Consequently, 10 patients had no recurrence or metastasis of NB; 2 patients had recurrence as well as metastasis of NB but survived, but the remaining 2 patients died eventually. Besides, in terms of specificity, the NSE detection was the lowest, while the specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT and ultrasonography was the same, which was 100%. In addition, 18F-FDG PET/CT and NSE were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The research results showed that image of the 18F-FDG PET/CT and ultrasonography were useful to diagnosis and treat NB in children, which could effectively predict the survival periods of patients. In certain aspects, these two methods were better than other traditional diagnostic methods. However, traditional diagnostic methods also had certain advantages. In the future, the clinical diagnosis and treatment of NB should value the joint application of various diagnostic methods to foster the strengths and avoid the weaknesses. The research results have provided the direction and guidance for clinical diagnosis and treatment of NB in children.