Use of semiquantitative analysis in local recurrence of colorectal carcinoma with 18F-FDG PET/CT: A myth or a truth?

Abstract Objective Recurrence of colorectal cancer is mostly seen within the first 2 years after surgery. The most frequent site of recurrence is the postsurgical areas and its surroundings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of semiquantitative analysis of 18 Fluorine fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in determining recurrence of colorectal carcinoma in the operation site. Materials and methods Files of 35 patients with colorectal carcinoma (25 men, 10 women, mean age: 59.25 ± 2.82 years, range: 27–80 years) who were treated with surgery and underwent FDG PET/CT scanning for restaging of colorectal carcinoma and showing increased FDG uptake in the postsurgical area, were retrospectively analysed. Besides calculating SUVmax of the areas showing FDG uptake, SUVmax of physiological colonic activity was also obtained and SUVmax of lesion/SUVmax of colonic wall (RSUVmax), was calculated. Characteristics of FDG uptake were classified according to histological analysis or clinical and imaging follow-up. Results In 17 of 35 patients (49%) the standard of reference for the final diagnosis was histologic analysis and in 18 (51%), final diagnosis was based on imaging and clinical follow-up. In 15 of 35 patients (43%) the etiology of increased FDG uptake was recurrence and in 20 (57%), FDG accumulation was observed due to benign etiology. The difference between the mean of the results of SUVmax in patients with recurrent disease and with no evidence of recurrence was statistically significant ( p  = 0.030). For SUVmax, a cut-off value for recurrence was calculated as 9.51 with a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 70%. In terms of RSUVmax results, a statistically significant difference was also observed between mean values in patients with recurrent disease and in those without ( p  = 0.002). ROC analysis demonstrated that the best predictive value of RSUVmax for recurrence was 1.75 with a sensitivity of 67% and specificity of 95%. Conclusions Semiquantitative analysis of FDG PET/CT may be used in detecting recurrent disease of patients with colorectal carcinoma. Eliminating interfering physiological colonic activity in analysis may have an incremental effect on the success of this technique, by means of increasing the specificity.