Diagnostic and Clinical Impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Staging and Restaging Soft-Tissue Sarcomas of the Extremities and Trunk: Mono-Institutional Retrospective Study of a Sarcoma Referral Center

Abstract

Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) represent a wide heterogeneous class of rare tumors. The exact role 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in the evaluation of STS is not well established. The aim of the present study was to evaluate how the use of 18F-FDG PET/CT in STS could influence patient therapy planning, looking for a possible added value over computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging—the most used modalities in the study of STS. Differences in SUVmax according to histologic subtype and tumor grade were also considered. Methods: a total of 345 consecutive 18F-FDG PET/CT scans performed for initial staging (n = 171) or for suspected disease relapse (n = 174) in 282 patients with STS extracted from the local Information System database were retrospectively reviewed. Results: 18F-FDG PET/CT altered therapy planning in 80 cases (16.4% for staging and 29.9% in restaging), both for disease upstaging (58.8%) and downstaging (41.2%) Conclusions: 18F-FDG PET/CT could significantly influence management of patients with STS, particularly for restaging.

68Ga-FAPI as a Diagnostic Tool in Sarcoma: Data from the 68Ga-FAPI PET Prospective Observational Trial

“…Reliable imaging methods are utterly important in the disease management of these patients, which mainly focus on computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or hybrid imaging with additional position emission tomography (PET) using 18 Fluorine-fluoro-2deoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG). 18 F-FDG PET/CT (hereafter FDG-PET) has gained recognition as an efficient imaging modality for sarcomas and has been linked with detection of local recurrence and metastasis, response assessment and prognosis (1)(2)(3). Although the downsides of 18 F-FDG include the false-positive results due to physiological uptake or inflammatory response or falsenegative results due to elevated serum blood glucose levels.…”

Efficacy of Pazopanib in the Treatment of Metastatic Malignant Giant Cell Tumor of Soft Tissue: A Case Report

“…Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT with Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is a crucial non-invasive diagnostic tool for the management of patients with soft tissue sarcomas [ 13 ]. Previous reports suggested that FDG avidity was related to strong hexokinase II activity in giant cells [ 14 ].…”

What is the clinical impact of staging and surveillance PET‐CT scan findings in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma?

“…A number of studies have previously investigated the role of PET‐CT in altering the treatment course of sarcoma patients. Annovazzi et al 11 reported that 23.2% of patients underwent a change in the treatment plan as a result of PET‐CT findings in their series of 345 cases of soft tissue sarcoma. In a smaller series, Fuglø et al 12 reported 21 of 89 bone and soft tissue sarcoma patients underwent a change in treatment, where all of these patients were referred for chemotherapy rather than surgery due to the presence of metastasis.…”