Introduction 68Ga-fibroblast activation protein-specific enzyme inhibitor 04 (FAPI-04) is a radiolabelled molecular agent targeting the inhibitor of fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is often present in tumor stroma and inflammatory tissue with prominent fibroblast proliferation. FAPI-04 is a promising PET tracer for tumor imaging as well as IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD). Case description We herein present a case where 68Ga-FAPI PET/MR helped to diagnose IgG4-RD that involved pancreas and bile duct. A 62-year-old patient suffered from diffusive discomfort at middle upper abdomen and presented brown urine. Blood test revealed abnormal liver function and elevated IgG4 (4.830g/L↑). 18F-FDG PET showed enlarged uncinate process and dilated bile duct tree. Mild increase of FDG uptake in uncinate process and head of pancreas indicated possible pancreatic malignancy, but the clinical evidence was not sufficient and histology examination was negative. 68Ga-FAPI PET revealed prominent increased radioactivity distribution in the entire pancreas and bile duct, suggesting IgG4-RD. Conclusion FAPI-04 is not only a good PET imaging tracer for tumors, but also for prominent fibroblast-mediated inflammation. FAPI imaging should be considered when the diagnosis using 18F-FDG imaging is ambiguous. The presented case illustrates that 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET is helpful in improving the differential diagnosis of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

ObjectiveTo assess clinical value of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for differentiation of malignant from benign focal thyroid incidentaloma.Materials and MethodsThis retrospective study included 99 patients with focal thyroid incidentaloma of 5216 non-thyroid cancer patients that had undergone PET/CT. PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters, volume-based functional parameters, metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of thyroid incidentaloma were assessed. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted and areas under the curve (AUC) were compared by Hanley and McNeil test to evaluate usefulness of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), MTV and TLG, as markers for differentiating malignant from benign thyroid incidentalomas.ResultsOf 99 thyroid incidentalomas, 64 (64.6%) were malignant and 35 (35.4%) were benign. Malignant thyroid incidentalomas were larger (1.8 cm vs. 1.3 cm, p = 0.006), and had higher SUVmax (11.3 vs. 4.8, p < 0.001), MTV (all p < 0.001) and TLG (all p < 0.001) than benign. TLG 4.0 had the highest performance for differentiation of malignant from benign thyroid incidentaloma in all semi-quantitative parameters with AUC 0.895 by ROC curve analysis. AUC (TLG 4.0) was significantly larger than AUC (SUVmean), AUC (MTV 2.5), AUC (MTV 3.0), AUC (MTV 3.5), AUC (TLG 2.5), and AUC (TLG 3.0), respectively (all, p < 0.05). There was no statistical difference between AUC (TLG 4.0) and AUC (SUVmax) (p > 0.05). A threshold TLG 4.0 of 2.475 had 81.3% sensitivity and 94.3% specificity for identifying malignant thyroid incidentalomas.ConclusionVolume-based PET/CT parameters could potentially have clinical value in differential diagnosis of thyroid incidentaloma along with SUVmax.

A relatively individualized lipiodol dose may be determined according to the blood supply pattern and the tumor diameter by CT imaging.

Background Quantitative bone SPECT/CT is useful for disease follow up and inter-patient comparison. For bone metastatic malignant lesions, spine is the most commonly invaded site. However, Quantitative studies with large sample size investigating all the segments of normal cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae are seldom reported. This study was to evaluate the quantitative tomography of normal vertebrae using 99mTc-MDP with SPECT/CT to investigate the feasibility of standardized uptake value (SUV) for differential diagnosis of benign and malignant bone lesions. Methods A retrospective study was carried out involving 221 patients (116 males and 105 females) who underwent SPECT/CT scan using 99mTc-MDP. The maximum SUV (SUVmax), mean SUV (SUVmean) and CT values (Hounsfield Unit, HU) of 2416 normal vertebrae bodies, 157 benign bone lesions and 118 malignant bone metastasis foci were obtained. The correlations between SUVmax of normal vertebrae and CT values of normal vertebrae, age, height, weight, BMI of patients were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed with data of normal, benign and malignant groups corresponding to same sites and gender. Results The SUVmax and SUVmean of normal vertebrae in males were markedly higher than those in females (P < 0.0009). The SUVmax of each normal vertebral segment showed a strong negative correlation with CT values in both males and females (r = − 0.89 and − 0.92, respectively; P < 0.0009). The SUVmax of normal vertebrae also showed significant correlation with weight, height, and BMI in males (r = 0.4, P < 0.0009; r = 0.28, P = 0.005; r = 0.22, P = 0.026), and significant correlation with weight and BMI in females (r = 0.32, P = 0.009; r = 0.23, P = 0.031). The SUVmax of normal group, benign bone lesion group and malignant bone metastasis foci group showed statistical differences in both males and females. Conclusion Our study evaluated SUVmax and SUVmean of normal vertebrae, benign bone lesion and malignant bone metastasis foci with a large sample population. Preliminary results proved the potential value of SUVmax in differentiation benign and malignant bone lesions. The results may provide a quantitative reference for clinical diagnosis and the evaluation of therapeutic response in vertebral lesions.

Ki-67 staining, a reflection of tumor-proliferation activity, was significantly related to the FDG uptake value in lymphoma lesions.