Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Medicine
Volume 2013, Article ID 791078, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/791078
Case Report
PET/MRI for Preoperative Planning in Patients with
Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Technical Report of Two Patients
Annika Loft,
1
Karl Erik Jensen,
2
Johan Löfgren,
1
Søren Daugaard,
3
and Michael M. Petersen
4
1
Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine & PET, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen,
Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
2
Department of Radiology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
3
Department of Pathology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
4
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rigshospitalet, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9,
DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Correspondence should be addressed to Michael M. Petersen; m.m.petersen@dadlnet.dk
Received 8 August 2013; Revised 2 October 2013; Accepted 17 October 2013
Academic Editor: Grigorios Korosoglou
Copyright © 2013 Annika Lotet al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Clinical positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition protocols may improve the
evaluation of sot tissue sarcomas (STS) prior to surgical planning. We examined two patients with lower extremity STS using
a Siemens Biograph mMR PET/MRI scanner and the glucose analogue 18F-luoro-deoxyglucose (FDG). We investigated clinically
relevant tumor volumes and evaluated the relations to skeletal periosteum and nerve bundles. he patient scans suggest that
FDG PET/MRI improved the edge detection, and invasion of tumor tissue into important adjacent anatomical structures can be
evaluated. FDG PET/MRI also provided additional information compared to conventional Gadolinium enhanced MR imaging. he
indings were proven by subsequent pathological examination of the resected tumor tissue. In the future, clinical FDG PET/MRI
may be an important modality for preoperative planning, including radiation therapy planning in patients with STS.
1. Introduction
Sot tissue sarcomas (STS) comprise a heterogeneous group
of mesenchymal derived tumors. Historically, the primary
treatment for most STS is surgical excision with a wide mar-
gin, and amputation if a wide margin cannot be obtained [1].
However, over the past decades, it has been accepted by many
surgeons to use also less mutilating limb-sparing operative
procedures because when combined with external radiation
therapy, marginal or even intralesional margins in STS
surgery oten provide an acceptable local tumor control [2, 3].
In the preoperative planning and workup of STS patients,
Gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
is the current gold standard. Although conventional MRI
ofers an excellent sot-tissue contrast and is the most versatile
modality in musculoskeletal imaging, there are limitations
concerning the exact deinition of tumor iniltration into
the peritumoral edema and the adjacent structures, which is
essential for therapy planning. Moreover, oncologic therapy
monitoring and follow-up ater treatment remain challeng-
ing.
In Gadolinium enhanced MRI, edge detection is still
afected by peritumoral inlammation and edema which leads
to overestimation of tumor volume and extension. If major
blood vessels, major nerve bundles, or bones are close to the
tumor, it could lead to overestimation of invasive growth and
hereby result in major surgical intervention or amputation.
Hence, a more precise and speciic imaging method may
reduce the morbidity following sarcoma surgery.
he new hybrid positron emission tomograph combined
with a 3 Tesla (T) MRI scanner (PET/MRI) provides the
possibility for simultaneous PET/MRI and combines the
highly sensitive molecular imaging capability of PET with the
superior sot-tissue contrast of MR imaging [4, 5].
he purpose of our study was to evaluate the tumor
delineation by use of clinical PET/MRI performed in two