Clinical value of integrated [18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the preoperative assessment of papillary thyroid carcinoma: comparison with sonography

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical value of preoperative [(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) by comparing it to neck sonography in papillary thyroid carcinoma. The diagnostic accuracies of PET/CT and sonography for detecting cervical node metastasis were compared. The association between FDG uptake in the primary tumor and the prognostic factors of differentiated thyroid cancer, such as tumor size, multiplicity, extrathyroid extension, and lymph node metastasis, was also assessed. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed lower sensitivity and higher specificity than sonography for detection of cervical node metastasis; however, no statistically significant difference was noted (P > .99). Only the tumor size was associated with FDG uptake in the primary tumor. [(18)F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose PET/CT could not provide additional information compared to neck sonography.