World Journal of Endocrine Surgery

Register      Login

VOLUME 13 , ISSUE 2 ( May-August, 2021 ) > List of Articles

Original Article

Predicting Malignancy in FDG-avid Thyroid Nodules based on Standardized Uptake Value in Oncology Patients

Michael Bozin, Jason Callahan, Elizabeth Drummond, Michael Henderson, Anita Skandarajah

Keywords : Cohort study, Positron-emission tomography, Thyroid cancer, Thyroid nodule

Citation Information : Bozin M, Callahan J, Drummond E, Henderson M, Skandarajah A. Predicting Malignancy in FDG-avid Thyroid Nodules based on Standardized Uptake Value in Oncology Patients. World J Endoc Surg 2021; 13 (2):42-46.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10002-1409

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 31-01-2022

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2021; The Author(s).


Abstract

Aim and objective: Concomitant thyroid nodules and cancer found incidentally on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET-CT) in patients imaged for investigation or staging of malignancy have been progressively encountered. Maximum SUV (SUV-max) may aid diagnosis of concomitant thyroid malignancy. Materials and methods: PET/CT scans were reviewed between 2009 and 2014 in which FDG-avid thyroid incidentalomas were included. Patients who were investigated with biopsy or surgery were further assessed to determine the utility of SUV-max, mean, and nodule size as a determinate of malignancy. Results: A total of 325 of 35,586 patients were identified with FDG-avid thyroid incidentalomas (TI)–99 were investigated. The incidence was 0.88%. Forty nine were malignant, with a median SUV-max of 14.5 (range 2.7–60.4). Malignant nodules had higher median SUV-max than benign nodules at a threshold of 5 (p < 0.0001). Receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.66 (95%CI 0.55–0.77, p = 0.005). The sensitivity and specificity were 73.4 and 46.9, respectively. The positive and negative likelihood ratio was 3.12 (95%CI 1.80–5.50) and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.38. Conclusion: As FDG-avid TI can demonstrate variable uptake, SUV-max is not a useful tool to discriminate benign from malignant TI. SUV-max should remain a theoretical adjunctive tool for predicting thyroid cancer. Clinical significance: The threshold for investigating PET-avid thyroid nodules with ultrasound and FNAC (in the context of primary nonthyroidal malignancy) should be determined by the prognosis of the primary malignancy.


HTML PDF Share
  1. Bertagna F, Treglia G, Piccardo A, et al. F18-FDG-PET/CT thyroid incidentalomas: a wide retrospective analysis in three Italian centres on the significance of focal uptake and SUV value. Endocrine 2013;43(3):678–685. DOI: 10.1007/s12020-012-9837-2
  2. Gavriel H, Tang A, Eviatar E, et al. Unfolding the role of PET FDG scan in the management of thyroid incidentaloma in cancer patients. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2015;272(7):1763–1768. DOI: 10.1007/s00405-014-3120-5
  3. Nayan S, Ramakrishna J, Gupta MK. The proportion of malignancy in incidental thyroid lesions on 18-FDG PET study: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2014;151(2):190–200. DOI: 10.1177/0194599814530861
  4. Piccardo A, Puntoni M, Bertagna F, et al. 18F-FDG uptake as a prognostic variable in primary differentiated thyroid cancer incidentally detected by PET/CT: a multicentre study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2014;41(8):1482–1491. DOI: 10.1007/s00259-014-2774-y
  5. Bertagna F, Treglia G, Piccardo A, et al. Diagnostic and clinical significance of F-18-FDG-PET/CT thyroid incidentalomas. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2012;97(11):3866–3875. DOI: 10.12 10/jc.2012-2390
  6. Shie P, Cardarelli R, Sprawls K, et al. Systematic review: prevalence of malignant incidental thyroid nodules identified on fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Nucl Med Commun2009;30(9):742–748. DOI: 10.1097/MNM.0b013e32832ee09d
  7. Abraham T, Schöder H. Thyroid cancer-indications and opportunities for positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging. Semin Nucl Med 2011;41(2):121–138. DOI: 10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2010.10.006
  8. Pampaloni MH, Win AZ. Prevalence and characteristics of incidentalomas discovered by whole body FDG PETCT. Int J Mol Imaging 2012;2012:476763. DOI: 10.1155/2012/476763
  9. Cibas ES, Ali SZ. The Bethesda System for reporting thyroid cytopathology. Thyroid 2009;27(11):1341–1346. DOI: 10.1089/thy.2017.0500
  10. Lloyd RV, Osamura RY, Klöppel G, et al. WHO classification of tumors, pathology and genetics—tumors of endocrine organstle. IARC Press Lyon. 2004; ISBN: 978-92-832-4493-6.
  11. Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, et al. 2015 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer: The American Thyroid Association Guidelines task force on thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid 2016;26(1):1–133. DOI: 10.1089/thy.2015.0020
  12. Thursfield V, Farrugia H. Cancer in Victoria: statistics and trends 2015. Cancer Counc Victoria 2015;1–63.
  13. Park S, Oh C-M, Cho H, et al. Association between screening and the thyroid cancer “epidemic” in South Korea: evidence from a nationwide study. BMJ 2016;(355):5745. DOI:10.1136/bmj.i5745
  14. Warburg O. On the origin of cancer cells. Science 1956;123(3191):309–314. DOI: 10.1126/science.123.3191.309
  15. Uppal A, White MG, Nagar S, et al. Benign and malignant thyroid incidentalomas are rare in routine clinical practice: a review of 97,908 imaging studies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(9):1327–1331. DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0292
  16. Yoon JH, Cho A, Lee HS, et al. Thyroid incidentalomas detected on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography: Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TIRADS) in the diagnosis and management of patients. Surgery 2015;158(5):1314–1322. DOI: 10.1016/j.surg.2015.03.017
  17. Vriens D, De Wilt JHW, Van Der Wilt GJ, et al. The role of [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose-positron emission tomography in thyroid nodules with indeterminate fine-needle aspiration biopsy: Systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature. Cancer 2011;117:4582–4594. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26085
  18. Edge SB, Compton CC. The American Joint Committee on Cancer: the 7th edition of the AJCC cancer staging manual and the future of TNM. Ann Surg Oncol 2010;17(6):1471–1474. DOI: 10.1245/s10434-010-0985-4
  19. Pattison DA, Bozin M, Gorelik A, et al. 18 F-fluorodeoxyglycose-avid thyroid incidentalomas: the importance of contextual interpretation. J Nucl Med 2018;59(5):749-755. DOI:10.2967/jnumed.117.198085
  20. Pattison D, Angel C, Bozin M, et al. Oncocytic thyroid nodules are a common aetiology for intensely 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-avid thyroid incidentalomase. Thyroid 2015;25(S1):337. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1089/thy.2015.29004.abstracts
  21. Goffredo P, Roman SA, Sosa JA. Hurthle cell carcinoma: a population-level analysis of 3311 patients. Cancer 2013;119(3):504–511. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27770
  22. Máximo V, Lima J, Prazeres H, et al. The biology and the genetics of Hurthle cell tumors of the thyroid. Endocr Relat Cancer 2012;19(4):131–147. DOI: 10.1530/ERC-11-0354
PDF Share
PDF Share

© Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) LTD.