Radiology: Perfusion CT may best PET/CT in pulmonary nodule assessment
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| Axial fused image (SUVmax, 2.2) of after RF ablation at FDG PET/CT. Image source: Deandreis et al. Radiology 2011; 258:270-276. |
Pulmonary nodule diagnosis and management is characterized by a challenging conundrum: surgeons should promptly operate on patients with operable malignant nodules while sparing patients with benign lesions from unnecessary thoracotomy. “Therefore, it is essential that one be able to differentiate malignant from benign nodules in the least invasive manner and make the most specific and accurate diagnosis,” wrote Yoshiharu Ohno, MD, PhD, of the department of radiology at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan.
Existing methods of pulmonary nodule differentiation—CT, MR, PET, PET/CT—are plagued by false-negative and/or false-positive results. Ohno and colleagues sought to determine if whole organ perfusion CT might provide a more accurate evaluation of pulmonary nodules than PET/CT.
The researchers enrolled a final cohort of 50 patients with 76 pulmonary nodules between January 2008 and May 2009 to undergo dynamic first-pass area-detector perfusion CT, FDG PET/CT, transbronchial or percutaneous biopsy, bronchoalveolar lavage, microbiologic exam, resection via thoracotomy and video-assisted thoracic surgery or follow-up CT. Nodules were classified as malignant, benign nodules with expected low biologic activity and benign nodules with expected high biologic activity.
A chest radiologist with 15 years experience determined pulmonary nodule regions of interest (ROIs) on CT images, and researchers quantitatively analyzed image datasets to obtain perfusion via the maximum slope model (PFMS), extraction fraction (EFPP) and blood volume (BVPP). They also obtained maximal standard uptake value (SUVmax) on PET/CT images for comparison.
After analyzing and comparing the data, the researchers found significant and excellent correlations between each dynamic CT index and SUVmax and positive correlation between PFMS and EFpp, BVPP and SUVmax.
They also reported that mean values for all parameters significantly differed in the malignant nodule group and the benign nodule with low biologic activity group. PFMS and EFPP in the malignant group significantly differed from the benign group with expected high biologic activity. The results of receiver operating characteristic analyses for distinguishing the three nodules groups revealed that areas under the receiver operating characteristics curve were significantly larger for PFMS and EFPP than for BVPP and SUVmax. PFMS and EFpp provided greater specificity and accuracy at 79 percent and 90 percent, respectively, for PFms and 82 percent and 86 percent, respectively, for EFPP than BVpp and SUV.
“Our results show significant and reproducible difference in SUVmax and in all of the evaluated dynamic first-pass area-detector CT indexes among the malignant nodules, benign nodules with expected low biologic activity and benign nodules with expected high biologic activity,” summed Ohno and colleagues. The CT method also “enabled more specific and accurate differentiation between the malignant and benign pulmonary nodule groups than did PET/CT,” leading the researchers to “suggest that perfusion CT indexes could replace SUVmax for functional assessment of pulmonary nodules.”
Observing differences among specific CT indexes, the researchers noted that PFMS and EFpp outperformed BVpp andSUVmax in terms of specificity and accuracy of pulmonary nodule differentiation. Thus, blood flow parameters such as PFMS and EFpp may more precisely and accurately analyze an increase in tumor angiogenesis than BVpp. Moreover, PFMS provided more accurate positive and negative predictive values, which “could help physicians provide immediate treatment for patients with malignant nodules and help avoid surgery or further intervention for patients without malignant nodules,” offered the researchers.
Ohno and colleagues suggested that future studies include and examine with dynamic area-detector CT and PET/CT all pulmonary nodules (regardless of size) detected at initial screening to further evaluate the clinical utility of the model. Nevertheless, they summed that the CT indexes may be more specific and accurate than PET/CT in the differentiation of benign from malignant nodules and added that the integration of dynamic area-detector CT could complement PET/CT in the management of pulmonary nodules.