Objective: To assess usefulness of dual-time-point (18)F FDG PET/CT to differentiate malignant from benign thyroid nodules and predict the potential factor for malignancy.
Methods: Fifty patients (age 38-83 years, mean 58 ± 10.6 years) with thyroid nodule were recruited. The (18)F FDG PET/CT images were analyzed visually and quantitatively.
Results: The optimal visual grade of early and delayed images was >grade 3. When SUV(max1) of >2.9 was used as cut off point, the sensitivity and specificity were 55.5 and 63.4%. When SUV(max2) was >3.1, the sensitivity and specificity were 88.8 and 43.9%. When %ΔSUV(max) was ≤9.09%, the sensitivity and specificity were 33.3 and 87.8%. ROC analyses showed that all indices had similar efficacy without significances. No definite predictor could be found for malignant nodules.
Conclusion: The dual-time-point (18)F FDG PET/CT is not a useful method for differentiating malignant and benign nodules.