Clinical value of ^(18)F-FDG PET/CT in evaluation of hepatic vein,inferior vena cava and right atrium tumor thrombi in hepatocellular carcinoma:Initial results

In this paper,eleven consecutive hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients with an embolus in the hepatic vein(HV),inferior vena cava(IVC)and right atrium(RA) were studied with 18F-FDG PET/CT and contrast enhanced CT.When correlated with final diagnosis,18F-FDG PET/CT and contrast enhanced CT was positive in 11 patients(100%),7 patients(63.6%),respectively.The accuracy of PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT were 100%,63.6%.Three cases with secondary blood thrombi in the distant IVC,which were confirmed by PET/CT,cannot be identified by contrast enhanced CT.The average survival was 3 months(range,1-12mo).The 12 months survival rate was 9.1%.Our results suggest that highly metabolic tumor thrombus in the HV,IVC and RA may be depicted on 18F-FDG PET/CT in HCC patients.It may discriminate between malignant and secondary benign blood thrombi.

In this paper, eleven consecutive hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） patients with an ernbolus in the hepatic vein （HV）, inferior vena cava （IVC）and right atrium （RA） were studied with lSF-FDG PET/CT and contrast enhanced CT. When correlated with final diagnosis, 18SF-FDG PET/CT and contrast enhanced CT was positive in 11 patients （100%）, 7 patients （63.6%）, respectively. The accuracy of PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT were 100%, 63.6%. Three cases with secondary blood thrombi in the distant IVC, which were confirmed by PET/CT, cannot be identified by contrast enhanced CT. The average survival was 3 months （range, 1-12mo）. The 12 months survival rate was 9.1%. Our results suggest that highly metabolic tumor thrombus in the HV, IVC and RA may be depicted on 18F-FDG PET/CT in HCC patients. It may discriminate between malignant and secondary benign blood thrombi.