A Prospective Study Comparing 99mTc-Hydroxyethylene-Diphosphonate Planar Bone Scintigraphy and Whole-Body SPECT/CT with 18F-Fluoride PET/CT and 18F-Fluoride PET/MRI for Diagnosing Bone Metastases

Johan Löfgren, Jann Mortensen, Sine H Rasmussen, Claus Madsen, Annika Loft, Adam E Hansen, Peter Oturai, Karl Erik Jensen, Mette Louise Mørk, Michala Reichkendler, Liselotte Højgaard, Barbara M Fischer

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We prospectively evaluated and compared the diagnostic performance of 99mTc-hydroxyethylene-diphosphonate (99mTc-HDP) planar bone scintigraphy (pBS), 99mTc-HDP SPECT/CT, 18F-NaF PET/CT, and 18F-NaF PET/MRI for the detection of bone metastases. Methods: One hundred seventeen patients with histologically proven malignancy referred for clinical pBS were prospectively enrolled. pBS and whole-body SPECT/CT were performed followed by 18F-NaF PET/CT within 9 d. 18F-NaF PET/MRI was also performed in 46 patients. Results: Bone metastases were confirmed in 16 patients and excluded in 101, which was lower than expected. The number of equivocal scans was significantly higher for pBS than for SPECT/CT and PET/CT (18 vs. 5 and 6, respectively; P 5 0.004 and 0.01, respectively). When equivocal readings were excluded, no statistically significant difference in sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, or overall accuracy were found when comparing the different imaging techniques. In the per-patient analysis, equivocal scans were either assumed positive for metastases (“pessimistic analysis”) or assumed negative for metastases (“optimistic analysis”). The percentages of misdiagnosed patients for the pessimistic analysis were 21%, 15%, 9%, and 7% for pBS, SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MRI, respectively. Corresponding figures for the optimistic analysis were 9%, 12%, 5%, and 7%. In those patients identified as having bone metastases according to the reference standard, SPECT/CT, 18F-NaF PET/CT, and PET/MRI detected additional lesions compared with pBS in 31%, 63%, and 71%, respectively. Conclusion: 18F-NaF PET/CT and whole-body SPECT/CT resulted in a significant reduction of equivocal readings compared with pBS, which implies an improved diagnostic confidence. However, the clinical benefit of using, for example, 18F-NaF PET/CT or PET/MRI as compared with SPECT/CT and pBS in this patient population with a relatively low prevalence of bone metastases (14%) is likely limited. This conclusion is influenced by the low prevalence of patients with osseous metastases. There may well be significant differences in the sensitivity of SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MRI compared with pBS, but a larger patient population or a patient population with a higher prevalence of bone metastases would have to be studied to demonstrate this.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Nuclear Medicine
Volume58
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)1778-1785
ISSN0161-5505
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2017

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Bone Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging
  • Bone and Bones/diagnostic imaging
  • Diphosphonates
  • Female
  • Fluorine Radioisotopes
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multimodal Imaging
  • Organotechnetium Compounds
  • Positron-Emission Tomography/methods
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prospective Studies
  • Radionuclide Imaging
  • Radiopharmaceuticals
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sodium Fluoride
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon/methods
  • Whole Body Imaging/methods

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Prospective Study Comparing 99mTc-Hydroxyethylene-Diphosphonate Planar Bone Scintigraphy and Whole-Body SPECT/CT with 18F-Fluoride PET/CT and 18F-Fluoride PET/MRI for Diagnosing Bone Metastases'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this