Dual-time-point positron emission tomography findings of benign mediastinal fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in tuberculosis-endemic region

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We performed dual-time-point positron emission tomography imaging in patients without evidences of mediastinal lymph node metastasis to investigate the characteristics of benign mediastinal fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One-hundred and eighteen mediastinal lesions of 24 patients were included for this study. On the early and delayed positron emission tomography images, size, attenuation, maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) and retention indices (RI) were recorded for lymph node characterization. RESULTS: The mean SUV on the early and delayed scan of 118 lymph nodes was 3.3±1.2 and 4.2±1.7, respectively. The mean RI was 26.4±24.5%. Higher FDG uptake was observed in patients with calcified nodules and bilateral FDG uptake and in lymph nodes with calcification or short-axis diameter larger than 10 mm. CONCLUSION: In tuberculosis-endemic area, the increments of SUV or RI were frequently observed in benign mediastinal lymph nodes, and these values might not be the accurate indicators of malignant disease for mediastinal FDG uptake.