The relationship between PET-CT images and histopathological features of thyroid incidenteloma, detected during follow-up of primary malignancy

Abstract

Aim of the Study: While the rate of thyroid incidentaloma detected on positron emission tomography (PET) was reported as 4%, the malignancy rate was 14%–50%. We evaluated the thyroid nodules which were detected by PET computerized tomography (CT) in cancer patients and analyzed the pathological results of those thyroid nodules diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and their correlation with the maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax) value and PET imaging features. Materials and Methods: FNAB were performed for 40 thyroid incidentalomas. We analyzed the relationship between the histopathological findings and radiological features by Pearson’s correlations and Chi square Fisher’s exact tests to evaluate the factors associated with SUVm