Journals / Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine / 2026 / Volume: 8 Issue: 1

Incidental focal 18F-FDG uptake in colorectal locations on PET/CT for oncologic reasons: pathologic correlation with endoscopic findings

Onkolojik nedenlerle yapılan PET/CT'de kolorektal bölgelerdeki tesadüfi fokal 18F-FDG tutulumu: Endoskopik bulgularla patolojik korelasyon

Selim Demirci(Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Onkoloji Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi)0009-0006-3024-3267
Semih Sezer(SAĞLIK BİLİMLERİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ANKARA DR. ABDURRAHMAN YURTASLAN ONKOLOJİ SAĞLIK UYGULAMA VE ARAŞTIRMA MERKEZİ)0000-0002-0458-1450
Gülin Uçmak Vural(SAĞLIK BİLİMLERİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ, ANKARA DR. ABDURRAHMAN YURTASLAN ONKOLOJİ SAĞLIK UYGULAMA VE ARAŞTIRMA MERKEZİ)0000-0002-0268-4747
Mahmut Yüksel(Ankara Bilkent City Hospital)0000-0002-4727-2834
Volkan Gökbulut(Ankara Bilkent City Hospital)0000-0002-7906-2479
Pages
—
Publication Date
2025-01-12
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Conclusion: The colonoscopy results indicated that malignant lesions had significantly elevated SUVmax values compared to other lesion types or physiological uptake.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Aims: Incidental focal 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake in the colorectal region on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) may indicate premalignant lesions, such as adenomas or malignancies.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Methods: A retrospective review of PET/CT reports was conducted on 5.380 patients with confirmed or suspected malignancies who underwent whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT between January 2019 and April 2024.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Conclusion: The colonoscopy results indicated that malignant lesions had significantly elevated SUVmax values compared to other lesion types or physiological uptake.
🔬Design:Review & Systematic Survey
📍Scope:2019 Verileri
⚙️Variables:PET/CT · focal uptake · SUVmax

Abstract

Aims: Incidental focal 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake in the colorectal region on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) may indicate premalignant lesions, such as adenomas or malignancies. Early detection and diagnosis are crucial for cancer prevention. This study aimed to assess the characteristics of incidental focal colonic FDG uptake associated with benign, premalignant, and malignant lesions, and to determine when colonoscopy is necessary. Methods: A retrospective review of PET/CT reports was conducted on 5.380 patients with confirmed or suspected malignancies who underwent whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT between January 2019 and April 2024. Patients exhibiting focal colonic 18F-FDG uptake and subsequently referred for colonoscopy were included in this study. Results: Among 110 patients who underwent colonoscopy, 63 (57.3%) had adenomas and 14 (12.7%) had malignant tumors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve based on the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) showed an AUC of 0.958. A cutoff value of 13.80 was optimal for distinguishing malignant lesions from nonmalignant lesions, with a sensitivity of 92%, specificity of 89%, positive predictive value of 56%, and negative predictive value of 98%. The SUVmax significantly differentiated malignancy from other colonoscopic findings (p 0.05). Conclusion: The colonoscopy results indicated that malignant lesions had significantly elevated SUVmax values compared to other lesion types or physiological uptake. However, the SUVmax was not sufficient to distinguish benign lesions from adenomas. Therefore, all incidental colonic findings should be thoroughly assessed, and lesions with SUVmax ≥13.80 should be promptly evaluated.

Özet

Amaç: Pozitron emisyon tomografisi/bilgisayarlı tomografi (PET/BT) görüntülemesinde kolorektal bölgede görülen rastlantısal fokal 18-florodeoksiglukoz (18F-FDG) tutulumu, adenomlar gibi premalign lezyonları veya maligniteleri işaret edebilir. Erken teşhis ve tanı, kanserin önlenmesi açısından hayati öneme sahiptir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, benign, premalign ve malign lezyonlarla ilişkili rastlantısal fokal kolonik FDG tutulumunun özelliklerini değerlendirmek ve kolonoskopi gerekliliğini belirlemektir. Yöntemler: Ocak 2019 ile Nisan 2024 tarihleri arasında tüm vücut 18F-FDG PET/BT yapılan, malignite tanısı almış veya şüphesi olan 5.380 hastanın PET/BT raporları retrospektif olarak incelendi. Fokal kolonik 18F-FDG tutulumu gösteren ve ardından kolonoskopiye yönlendirilen hastalar çalışmaya dahil edildi. Bulgular: Kolonoskopi yapılan 110 hastanın 63’ünde (%57,3) adenom, 14’ünde (%12,7) malign tümör tespit edildi. Maksimum standardize tutulum değeri (SUVmax) üzerinden oluşturulan ROC eğrisi, malign lezyonların malign olmayanlardan ayrılmasında 0.958'lik bir AUC gösterdi. 13,80'lik bir eşik değeri, malign lezyonları ayırt etmek için %92 duyarlılık, %89 özgüllük, %56 pozitif prediktif değer ve %98 negatif prediktif değer sağladı. SUVmax, maligniteyi diğer kolonoskopik bulgulardan anlamlı şekilde ayırt etti (P .05). Sonuç: Kolonoskopi sonuçları, malign lezyonların diğer lezyon türlerine veya fizyolojik tutuluma kıyasla anlamlı derecede yüksek SUVmax değerlerine sahip olduğunu gösterdi. Bununla birlikte, SUVmax değeri, benign lezyonları adenomlardan ayırt etmek için yeterli olmadı. Bu nedenle, rastlantısal kolonik bulguların tümü dikkatlice değerlendirilmelidir ve SUVmax ≥ 13,80 olan lezyonlar için hızla inceleme planlanmalıdır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Demirci, S., Sezer, S., Vural, G. U., Yüksel, M., Gökbulut, V. (2025). Incidental focal 18F-FDG uptake in colorectal locations on PET/CT for oncologic reasons: pathologic correlation with endoscopic findings. Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine, Volume: 8 Issue: 1. https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.1594127

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (26)

  1. Xia X, Wang Y, Yuan J, et al. Baseline SUVmax of 18F-FDG PET-CT indicates prognosis of extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(37):e22143. doi:10.1097/md.00000000000 22143
  2. Arikan AE, Makay O, Teksoz S, et al. Efficacy of PET-CT in the prediction of metastatic adrenal masses that are detected on follow-up of the patients with prior nonadrenal malignancy: a nationwide multicenter case-control study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022;101(34):e30214. doi:10.1097/md.0000000000030214
  3. Hosni MN, Kassas M, Itani MI, et al. The clinical significance of incidental GIT uptake on PET/CT: radiologic, endoscopic, and pathologic correlation. Diagnostics (Basel). Mar 30 2023;13(7)1297. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13071297
  4. Sagnes J, Battistella P, Paunet T, Mariano-Goulart D, Kucharczak F. Evaluation of 18-FDG PET diagnostic capabilities for cancer screening in heart transplant patients, a retrospective study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2023;102(39):e35296. doi:10.1097/md.0000000000035296
  5. Kostakoglu L, Hardoff R, Mirtcheva R, Goldsmith SJ. PET-CT fusion imaging in differentiating physiologic from pathologic FDG uptake. Radiographics. 2004;24(5):1411-1431. doi:10.1148/rg.245035725
  6. Tatlidil R, Jadvar H, Bading JR, Conti PS. Incidental colonic fluorodeoxyglucose uptake: correlation with colonoscopic and histopathologic findings. Radiology. 2002;224(3):783-787. doi:10.1148/radiol.2243011214
  7. Penz D, Pammer D, Waldmann E, et al. Association between endoscopist adenoma detection rate and serrated polyp detection: Retrospective analysis of over 200,000 screening colonoscopies. Endosc Int Open. 2024; 12(4):e488-e497. doi:10.1055/a-2271-1929
  8. Treglia G, Taralli S, Salsano M, Muoio B, Sadeghi R, Giovanella L. Prevalence and malignancy risk of focal colorectal incidental uptake detected by (18) F-FDG-PET or PET/CT: a meta-analysis. Radiol Oncol. 2014;48(2):99-104. doi:10.2478/raon-2013-0035
  9. Bielawska B, Hookey LC, Sutradhar R, et al. Anesthesia assistance in outpatient colonoscopy and risk of aspiration pneumonia, bowel perforation, and splenic injury. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(1):77-85. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2017.08.043
  10. Young CJ, Zahid A, Choy I, Thompson JF, Saw RPM. Incidental detection of colorectal lesions by FDG PET/CT scans in melanoma patients. Eur J Surg Oncol. Nov 2017;43(11):2163-2169. doi:10.1016/j.ejso.2017.09.012
  11. Babat I, Polat H, Umar Gursu R, et al. The effect of mutation status, pathological features and tumor location on prognosis ın patients with colorectal cancer. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2021;67(2):185-189. doi:10. 1590/1806-9282.67.02.20200321
  12. Mainenti PP, Iodice D, Segreto S, et al. Colorectal cancer and 18FDG-PET/CT: what about adding the T to the N parameter in loco-regional staging? World J Gastroenterol. 21 2011;17(11):1427-1433. doi:10.3748/wjg.v17.i11.1427
  13. Lee H, Hwang KH, Kwon KA. Assessment of incidental focal colorectal uptake by analysis of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography parameters. World J Clin Cases. 2022;10(17):5634-5645. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i17.5634
  14. Purandare NC, Gawade SK, Puranik AD, Agrawal A, Shah S, Rangarajan V. Etiology and significance of incidentally detected focal colonic uptake on FDG PET/CT. Indian J Radiol Imaging. 2012;22(4):260-6. doi:10.4103/ 0971-3026.111476
  15. Gökden Y, Özülker F, Özülker T. Prevalence and clinical significance of incidental focal (18) F-FDG uptake in colon on PET/CT imaging. Mol Imaging Radionucl Ther. 2022;31(2):96-103. doi:10.4274/mirt.galenos. 2022.38247
  16. Farquharson AL, Chopra A, Ford A, Matthews S, Amin SN, De Noronha R. Incidental focal colonic lesions found on (18) fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan: further support for a national guideline on definitive management. Colorectal Dis. 2012;14(2):e56-63. doi:10.1111/j.1463-1318.2011.02760.x
  17. Fuertes J, Montagut C, Bullich S, et al. Incidental focal uptake in colorectal location on oncologic ¹⁸FDG PET and PET/CT studies: histopathological findings and clinical significances. Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol. 2015;34(2):95-101. doi:10.1016/j.remn.2014.07.008
  18. van Hoeij FB, Keijsers RG, Loffeld BC, Dun G, Stadhouders PH, Weusten BL. Incidental colonic focal FDG uptake on PET/CT: can the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) guide us in the timing of colonoscopy? Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imag. 2015;42(1):66-71. doi:10.1007/s00259-014-2887-3
  19. Drenth JP, Nagengast FM, Oyen WJ. Evaluation of (pre-)malignant colonic abnormalities: endoscopic validation of FDG-PET findings. Eur J Nucl Med. 2001;28(12):1766-1769. doi:10.1007/s002590100645
  20. Jayaprakasam VS, Paroder V, Schöder H. Variants and pitfalls in PET/CT imaging of gastrointestinal cancers. Semin Nucl Med. 2021;51(5):485-501. doi:10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2021.04.001
  21. Winawer SJ, Zauber AG, Ho MN, et al. Prevention of colorectal cancer by colonoscopic polypectomy. The National polyp study workgroup. N Engl J Med. 1993;329(27):1977-1981. doi:10.1056/nejm199312303292701
  22. Treglia G, Calcagni ML, Rufini V, et al. Clinical significance of incidental focal colorectal (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake: our experience and a review of the literature. Colorectal Dis. 2012;14(2):174-180. doi:10.1111/j. 1463-1318.2011.02588.x
  23. Gutman F, Alberini JL, Wartski M, et al. Incidental colonic focal lesions detected by FDG PET/CT. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2005;185(2):495-500. doi:10.2214/ajr.185.2.01850495
  24. Luboldt W, Volker T, Wiedemann B, et al. Detection of relevant colonic neoplasms with PET/CT: promising accuracy with minimal CT dose and a standardised PET cut-off. Eur Radiol. 2010;20(9):2274-2285. doi: 10.1007/s00330-010-1772-0
  25. Ozaslan E, Kiziltepe M, Addulrezzak U, et al. Is SUVmax of (18)F-FDG PET/CT predictive factor for malignancy in gastrointestinal tract? Niger J Clin Pract. 2021;24(8):1217-1224. doi:10.4103/njcp.njcp_637_18
  26. Esmer AC, Öksüzoğlu K, Şen F, et al. Evaluation of colonoscopic results of patients with incidental colonic FDG uptake in PET/CT imaging. World J Surg. 2023;47(10):2532-2541. doi:10.1007/s00268-023-07135-w