Potential role of FDG PET/CT in evaluating patients with hepatic incidentalomas

Clin Nucl Med. 2014 Feb;39(2):156-9. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000000312.

Abstract

This review article is focused on the role of FDG PET/CT in diagnosing and characterizing hepatic incidentalomas. A large variety of unsuspected lesions can be detected in the liver both with ultrasound and CT performed for other reasons; the prevalence of liver incidentalomas increases in patients with chronic liver disease or preexisting oncologic history. The major challenge is to discriminate benign from malignant lesions. There is a large body of literature indicating that FDG PET/CT is a useful tool to this purpose even if it is unspecific (ie, it cannot differentiate a primary tumor from a secondary lesion). Occasionally, FDG PET/CT can be useful for biopsy guidance.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18*
  • Humans
  • Incidental Findings*
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Liver Neoplasms / secondary
  • Multimodal Imaging / methods*
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*

Substances

  • Fluorodeoxyglucose F18