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Detectable size of melanoma metastases to brain on PET/CT

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Abstract

Objective

We aimed to determine at what size melanoma metastases become detectable by PET/CT.

Methods

We reviewed a total of 293 whole-body PET/CT studies performed on 212 patients for staging of melanoma where there was an MRI within a month of the PET/CT. MR and PET/CT were reviewed independently by separate readers.

Results

PET/CT revealed an overall incidental true-positive rate of 1% on a per-patient basis, consistent with other studies, with ‘hot’ lesions (more avid than brain parenchyma) visible at smaller sizes than ‘cold’ lesions.

Conclusions

PET/CT can detect metastatic melanoma lesions over about 2 cm in size, with hot lesions generally visible at smaller sizes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UNC Department of Radiology, Chapel Hill Hospitals, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, USA

    Jorge D. Oldan, Samuel A. Glaubiger, Amir H. Khandani & Valerie L. Jewells

Authors
  1. Jorge D. Oldan
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  2. Samuel A. Glaubiger
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  3. Amir H. Khandani
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  4. Valerie L. Jewells
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Correspondence to Jorge D. Oldan.

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There has been no outside support or conflicts of interest for this study.

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Oldan, J.D., Glaubiger, S.A., Khandani, A.H. et al. Detectable size of melanoma metastases to brain on PET/CT. Ann Nucl Med 34, 545–548 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-020-01481-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-020-01481-8

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