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| INTERESTING IMAGES |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 31
| Issue : 3 | Page : 244-245 |
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Importance of assessing nonattenuation-corrected positron emission tomography images in treatment response evaluation of primary cutaneous lymphoma
Piyush Chandra, Archi Agrawal, Nilendu Purandare, Sneha Shah, Venkatesh Rangarajan
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| Date of Web Publication | 7-Jun-2016 |
Correspondence Address:
Venkatesh Rangarajan
Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, E. Borges Road, Parel, Mumbai - 400 012, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-3919.183619
 Abstract | | |
Studies have shown previously that nonattenuated corrected (AC) positron emission tomography (PET) images improve detection of superficial lesions when compared to AC images. We present a case of cutaneous lymphoma to demonstrate the importance of assessing nonattenuation-corrected PET images in treatment response evaluation.
Keywords: Attenuation, cutaneous, Deauville's score, lymphoma, nonattenuate corrected positron emission tomography/computed tomography, treatment response
How to cite this article:
Chandra P, Agrawal A, Purandare N, Shah S, Rangarajan V. Importance of assessing nonattenuation-corrected positron emission tomography images in treatment response evaluation of primary cutaneous lymphoma. Indian J Nucl Med 2016;31:244-5 |
How to cite this URL:
Chandra P, Agrawal A, Purandare N, Shah S, Rangarajan V. Importance of assessing nonattenuation-corrected positron emission tomography images in treatment response evaluation of primary cutaneous lymphoma. Indian J Nucl Med [serial online] 2016 [cited 2021 Feb 25];31:244-5. Available from: https://www.ijnm.in/text.asp?2016/31/3/244/183619 |
A 62-year-old lady diagnosed with primary cutaneous anaplastic lymphoma. Baseline staging positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) showed fludeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the right anterior abdominal wall on maximum intensity projection image (MIP) [Figure 1]a - thin narrow black arrows] with rest of the scan unremarkable. Fused transaxial PET/CT images [Figure 1]b and PET images [Figure 1]c show FDG uptake in the skin thickening in the right anterior abdominal wall. Response evaluation was done after two cycles of chemotherapy. Deauville's' scoring was used to assess the for response evaluation on PET/CT.[1] Follow-up PET/CT attenuated corrected (CT-AC) MIP and transaxial PET images [Fiugre 2a and b] showed low-grade FDG uptake (uptake less than liver) in residual skin thickening (score 3/5)-suggestive of complete response (broad black arrow). Non-AC (NAC) MIP [Figure 2]c and transaxial PET images [Figure 2]d showed moderate FDG uptake (uptake more than liver) in the abdominal wall skin thickening (score 4/5)-suggestive of partial response (arrowhead). Biopsy done for confirmation was consistent with findings of residual disease on NAC images. Moving from “PET only” era to an era of “PET with integrated CT” has led to better disease characterization, decreased scan time, and less patient discomfort. CT, in addition to providing anatomical information, is also used for attenuation correction of PET images. CT-AC restores true tumor count density and permits accurate quantitative assessment for monitoring therapy. However, CT-AC has been shown to reduce lesion's contrast and detection sensitivity, especially in superficial lesions. Phantom studies demonstrated that NAC PET images have better lesion contrast compared to CT-AC images, independent of lesion localization, tissue type, and distance from body surface.[2] Another experimental study showed that statistical noise in the measured attenuation correction factors can increase noise levels in images and reduce effective total counts in emission scan.[3] These observations were validated clinically in patients with lymphoma and carcinoma breast where NAC images were shown to be diagnostically superior for evaluating superficial lesions, and AC images were deemed better for analyzing deep-seated lesions.[4],[5] Interim response evaluation in lymphoma in PET/CT is usually done using quantitative visual 5 point scoring where the uptake intensity with respect to liver rather than standard uptake value threshold is utilized.[1] Hence, in a superficial disease like primary cutaneous lymphoma, where the lesion uptake differs on CT-AC and NAC, analyzing NAC images separately is of important, as shown in our case. | Figure 1: Baseline staging positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed fludeoxyglucose uptake in the right anterior abdominal wall on maximum intensity projection image (a - thin narrow black arrows) with rest of the scan unremarkable. Fused transaxial positron emission tomography/computed tomography images (b) and positron emission tomography images (c) fludeoxyglucose uptake in the skin thickening in the right anterior abdominal wall
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 | Figure 2: Follow-up positron emission tomography/computed tomography attenuated corrected maximum intensity projection (a) and transaxial positron emission tomography images (b) showed low-grade flurodeoxyglucose uptake (uptake less than liver) in residual skin thickening (score 3/5)-suggestive of complete response (broad black arrow). Nonattenuated corrected maximum intensity projection (c) and transaxial positron emission tomography images (d) showed moderate fludeoxyglucose uptake (uptake more than liver) in the abdominal wall skin thickening (score 4/5)-suggestive of partial response (arrowhead)
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Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Barrington SF, Mikhaeel NG, Kostakoglu L, Meignan M, Hutchings M, Müeller SP, et al. Role of imaging in the staging and response assessment of lymphoma: Consensus of the International Conference on Malignant Lymphomas Imaging Working Group. J Clin Oncol 2014;32:3048-58.  |
| 2. | Bengel FM, Ziegler SI, Avril N, Weber W, Laubenbacher C, Schwaiger M. Whole-body positron emission tomography in clinical oncology: Comparison between attenuation-corrected and uncorrected images. Eur J Nucl Med 1997;24:1091-8. |
| 3. | Huang SC, Hoffman EJ, Phelps ME, Kuhl DE. Quantitation in positron emission computed tomography: 2. Effects of inaccurate attenuation correction. J Comput Assist Tomogr 1979;3:804-14. [ PUBMED] |
| 4. | Houseni M, Chamroonrat W, Basu S, Bural G, Mavi A, Kumar R, et al. Usefulness of non attenuation corrected 18F-FDG-PET images for optimal assessment of disease activity in patients with lymphoma. Hell J Nucl Med 2009;12:5-9. |
| 5. | Bleckmann C, Dose J, Bohuslavizki KH, Buchert R, Klutmann S, Mester J, et al. Effect of attenuation correction on lesion detectability in FDG PET of breast cancer. J Nucl Med 1999;40:2021-4. |
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