Clinical role of F-18 FDG PET/CT in Differentiating Malignant and Benign Pleural Effusion in Patients with Lung Cancer

Abstract

Background and objective Pleural effusions, a common feature among patients with lung cancer, should be differentiated into benign or malignant pleural effusions. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is one of accurate diagnostic tool for differentiating benign from malignant disease and for mediastinal lymph node staging. We explored the clinical role of PET/CT for differentiating malignant pleural effusion from benign pleural effusion among patients with lung cancer. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the data from all patients with lung cancer and pleural effusion who underwent F-18 FDG PET/CT. The PET/CT results were compared with the pathologic diagnosis or clinical follow-up. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of PET/CT for detecting malignant pleural metastases were calculated. Results A total of 33 patients were enrolled. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of PET/CT were 81.5%, 83.3%, 95.7%, 50.0%, and 81.8%, respectively, for detecting malignant pleural effusions lung cancer patients. Conclusion Our results suggest that F-18 FDG PET/CT can play a significant role in diagnosing lung cancer patients with pleural diffusions, with low false-positive rate. However, negative findings under PET/CT should be confirmed through further tests.

Keywords

• PET/CT
• Lung neoplasms
• Malignant pleural effusion
• Diagnosis