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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

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01-10-2013 | Editorial

SUV_max of 2.5 should not be embraced as a magic threshold for separating benign from malignant lesions

Authors: Thomas C. Kwee, Gang Cheng, Marnix G. E. H. Lam, Sandip Basu, Abass Alavi

Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Issue 10/2013

Excerpt

Lesions of an indeterminate nature are often encountered in images such as those from CT and MRI. Examples include solitary pulmonary nodules and various incidentalomas that may be found in any body region. FDG PET can be useful in differentiating benign from malignant lesions, given the fact that malignant lesions generally have a higher glycolytic rate and consequently higher FDG uptake. Both visual image interpretation and (semiquantitative) standardized uptake value (SUV) measurements may be used for this purpose. Some clinicians advocate the use of a maximum SUV (SUV_max) threshold of 2.5 to separate benign from malignant lesions, which is based on the results of several old studies that were published more than 10 years ago [1, 2]. However, this approach suffers from major shortcomings, which may lead to patient mismanagement. This communication aims to clarify several important issues on the validity of using an SUV_max threshold of 2.5 to differentiate benign from malignant lesions. …

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Title: SUVmax of 2.5 should not be embraced as a magic threshold for separating benign from malignant lesions
Authors: Thomas C. Kwee
Gang Cheng
Marnix G. E. H. Lam
Sandip Basu
Abass Alavi
Publication date: 01-10-2013
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging / Issue 10/2013
Print ISSN: 1619-7070
Electronic ISSN: 1619-7089
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-013-2484-x

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

SUV_max of 2.5 should not be embraced as a magic threshold for separating benign from malignant lesions

Excerpt

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Excerpt

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