[18F]FDG-PET (PET) vs. CT/MRI in the initial staging of Hodgkin's disease in children

Full text: The aim of the study is to examine the value of PET in comparison to MRI/CT for initial staging of Hodgkin's disease in children. In consensus conferences, we compared the results of CT/MRI with the PET data for 27 possibly involved regions in 179 newly diagnosed patients. An upstaging by PET occurred in 14 %, a downstaging in 5 % of cases. From a total of 1120 positive regions in CT/MRI, 98 findings were missed in PET (8.7%). In the lungs, from 31 positive CT-findings 11 didn't show abnormality in PET; in diaphragmatic recesses 13 of 26 positive findings in CT were PET-negative. PET was positive in 1212 regions, 190 of them didn't show according findings in CT/MRI (15.7%). The rate of discrepant negative findings in CT/MRI was highest in the skeleton (13/23 PET-positive cases) and inguinal lymph nodes (11/18 regions). Our results indicate that PET has a similar impact on staging of HD in children than it has been shown in adults. PET modified staging in 19 % of patients