Retrospective analysis of 116 patients and diagnostic value of ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT in hepatic tumor

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic value of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxy glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT in patients with hepatic tumor. Methods: One hundred and sixteen patients with clinical diagnosis of hepatic tumor (85 males, 31 females; average age was 56 years old) had undergone ¹⁸F FDG PET/CT scan before treatment from January 2010 to June 2017, and the imaging characteristics were retrospectively analyzed. The pathological results were used as a gold standard for evaluating the diagnostic value of ¹⁸F FDG PET/CT. The maximum diameter (d_max), the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max) and the tumor to non-tumor SUV ratio (TNR) were measured. Two-sample t test, one-way ANOVA, paired Chi-square test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used for data analysis. Results: Of the 116 patients, 11 patients had benign tumor, and 105 patients had malignant tumor. The d_max, SUV_max and TNR of 105 patients with malignant tumor were significant higher than those of 11 patients with benign tumor (all P < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of visual analysis in the diagnosis of benign tumors were 84.8% and 54.5%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the SUV_max method were 83.8% and 63.6%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the TNR method were 57.1% and 90.9%, respectively. From the perspective of positive rate, visual analysis and SUV_max were better than TNR. The areas under receiver operating characteristic curve for diagnosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and liver metastases by SUV_max and TNR methods were larger. Conclusion: ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT is a useful examination in hepatic tumor, especially for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and metastatic carcinoma.