Patient | Location of FDG-PET-avid lesions | Surgical indication | Operative details | Outcome after surgical treatment of FDG- PET-avid lesion |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Neck lesions, levels 2 and 3 | Palpable mass, level 2/3 | Dissection upper neck, left side | Persistent disease; |
 | FNA: metastatic PTC |  | Tg 56.5 μg/L, | |
 |  |  | no more PET-positive lesions; | |
 |  |  | ultrasound: | |
 |  |  | multiple small nodes <1 cm | |
2 | Two neck lesions, right side; jugular node | Palpable lymph node, right side of the neck | Right-sided neck dissection | Loco-regional control without evidence of residual disease after surgical resection of both lesions; |
 | Tg 33.5 |  | low Tg levels (3.8 μg/L); | |
 |  | ultrasound without evidence of suspicious lymph nodes in the neck; | ||
 |  | negative PET scan and a negative whole-body iodine scan after four years of follow-up | ||
3 | Neck lesion | Lesion detected on ultrasound: size 1.2 cm | Lymph node resection in the central neck | Progressive disease |
FNA: recurrent tumor | Â | PET-positive lesions in the neck and lungs | ||
4 | Neck lesion | Palpable lesion near right clavicle. | Right neck dissection | Died |
Tg level was 63.8 μg/L. |  |  | ||
5 | Neck and lung metastases | Lesion detected on ultrasound: size 1 cm. | Central neck dissection | Progressive disease |
Tg level was 8.6 μg/L |  | Tg level increased from 7.9 to 17 μg/L | ||
 |  | PET scan showed lung metastasis but no residual disease in the neck | ||
6 | Neck lesion; PET scan initially interpreted as negative, but later interpreted as positive | Palpable mass of 2.3 cm near the left mandible, also shown by ultrasound | Several small nodes were resected and the large node | Persistent disease |
 | FNA: recurrent tumor |  |  | |
7 | Solitary mediastinal lesion | Lesion also seen on MRI, size: 1.8 x 1.3 cm | Mediastinal lymph node dissection, followed by radioactive iodine | Loco-regional control without evidence of residual disease: Tg level decreased to 0.2 μg/L up until seven years of follow-up; |
 |  | Tg level was 12 μg/L |  | ultrasound showed no residual disease in neck; |
 |  | No ultrasound |  | CT scan two years after treatment showed no evidence of pulmonary metastasis |