Revista espanola de medicina nuclear e imagen molecular

• Published in: Revista Española de medicina nuclear e imagen molecular (English ed.) 2020-12
• Main Authors: Domenech Brasero, B, Mestre-Fusco, A, Suárez Piñera, M, Puertas Calvo, E, Perich Alsina, X, Montes, G, Plaza López, P
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• ISSN: 2253-8089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.remn.2020.10.011

AIMTo evaluate the utility of brain 18F-DOPA PET/CT in the differential diagnosis of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. MATERIAL AND METHODSTwelve patients were studied, with a total of 16 lesions, without definitive diagnosis after brain MRI. A double acquisition PET/CT brain scan was acquired at 20 and 90 minutes. Visual and semiquantitative assessment was performed with SUVmax calculation of the lesions and calculation of the T/S ratio (tumor/contralateral striatum) and T/N ratio (tumor/contralateral healthy parenchyma) for each time. RESULTSBased on the visual assessment scale and using T/S ratio ≥ 1 and T/N ratio ≥ 1.3 to determine malignancy, the values of sensitivity (S), specificity (E) and positive predictive value (PPV) were: visual assessment (S 100%, E 33.3%, VPP 71.4%), T/S ratio (S 90%, E 100%, VPP 100%) and T/N ratio (S 100%, E 16.6%, VPP 66.6%). No lesion showed an increase in SUVmax in late acquisition. 18F-DOPA PET/CT modified treatment in 75% of the patients. CONCLUSION18F-DOPA PET/CT is a useful tool in the study of brain lesions with inconclusive MRI. Late imaging (dual-point) has no added value in the final diagnosis. F-DOPA has an impact on patient management modifying therapeutic behavior.