| Theme |
Imaging Diagnostics of Liver Disease |
| Title |
Usefulness of Positron Emission Tomography with FDG in the Diagnosis of Hepatic Tumors |
| Author |
Susumu Shiomi |
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University |
| Author |
Shuhei Nishiguchi |
Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University |
| [ Summary ] |
Fluorodeoxyglucose(FDG)-PET is used for diagnosis of hepatic tumors. In a metastatic hepatic tumor or cholangiocarcinoma, the standardized uptake value(SUV) ratio is higher than in hepatocellular carcinoma or a benign hepatic tumors. This is useful for differentiation of the diseases. Although there are many cases of hepatocellular carcinoma in which the SUV ratio is low and is not useful for diagnosis, in cases with high SUV ratios, FDG-PET is useful for judgment of the effects of treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma or for diagnosis of recurrence. Further more, the SUV ratio is correlated with the degree of malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma and is reflected in the prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. FDG-PET provides useful information in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma that could not be obtained by other means of diagnostic imaging. Therefore, this examination is expected to be useful for evaluation of the degree of malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma and formulation of its prognosis. |