Initial clinical results of simultaneous 18F-FDG PET/MRI in comparison to 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with head and neck cancer

Abstract

PET/MRI of patients with head and neck cancer yielded good diagnostic capability, similar to PET/CT. Further studies on larger cohorts to prove these first results seem justified.

FDG Whole-Body PET/MRI in Oncology: a Systematic Review

“…One study reported that PET/MRI increased sensitivity for detecting cervical lymph node metastasis over MRI only (89.5 % vs. 65.8 %, respectively) but there was no significant difference with standalone PET (86.8 %) [32]. In another study, diagnostic performance of PET/MRI showed 80.5 % of sensitivity, 88.2 % of specificity, 75.6 % of positive predictive value (PPV), and 92.5 % of negative predictive value (NPV) and those of PET/CT showed 82.7, 87.3, 73.2, and 92.4 %, respectively [33].…”

Is integrated 18F-FDG PET/MRI superior to 18F-FDG PET/CT in the differentiation of incidental tracer uptake in the head and neck area?

“…A retrospective analysis of 81 oncologic patients who underwent contrast-enhanced 18 F-FDG PET/CT and subsequent PET/MRI was performed by two readers for incidental tracer uptake. In a consensus reading, discrepancies were resolved.…”

“…The examinations were performed on a Biograph mCT TM (Siemens Healthcare GmbH). At the time of 18 F-FDG injection, blood glucose levels were below 150 mg/dL.…”

“…A weight-dependent 18 F-FDG dose (mean activity, 260±50 MBq) was injected 60 min prior to a contrast-enhanced, dedicated head and neck PET/CT scan which was followed by a whole-body PET/CT examination. The examinations were performed on a Biograph mCT TM (Siemens Healthcare GmbH).…”

“…After the PET/CT scan, a dedicated head and neck examination was performed on a Magnetom Biograph mMR TM (Siemens Healthcare GmbH), 150±47 min after 18 F-FDG injection. For attenuation correction, a T1-weighted three-dimensional volume interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) sequence in Dixon technique was acquired in coronal orientation (TE1, 1.23 ms; TE2, 2.46 ms; TR, 3.6 ms; slice thickness, 3.12 mm; flip angle, 10°; matrix size, 192×121; field-of-view, 500×328 mm²).…”