PURPOSE:

 

The aim of this study was to investigate the value of morphologic, functional, and metabolic biomarkers acquired concurrently at PET/MRI in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.

 

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

 

During 1 year, 9 patients with suspected thymic epithelial tumors at contrast-enhanced chest CT were prospectively enrolled and underwent preoperative F-FDG PET/MRI. Two chest radiologists prospectively reviewed the CT and MRI scans of PET/MRI in consensus, and 2 nuclear physicians reviewed the PET images. Visual assessment of the tumor morphology, functional biomarkers such as apparent diffusion coefficient from diffusion-weighted images, and metabolic biomarkers (including SUVmax, metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis, and heterogeneity index) were recorded. All patients underwent operation, and their pathologic reports served as the reference standard.

 

(후략)