¹⁸F-FDG PET or PET/CT role in plasmacytoma: A systematic review

The metabolic behavior of plasmacytoma at ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT is not yet clear.

The aim of this systematic review was to analyze published data about the role of ¹⁸F-FDG PET or PET/CT in patients affected by plasmacytoma.

Acomprehensive computer literature search of the Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library databases was conducted including articles up to July 2019 to find relevant published papers about the performance of ¹⁸F-FDG PET and PET/CT in plasmacytoma.

The comprehensive computer literature search revealed 371 articles. On reviewing the titles and abstracts, 363 articles were excluded because the reported data were not within the field of interest of this review. Eight articles were selected and retrieved in full-text version. From the analyses of the selected studies, the following main findings have been founded: 1) plasmacytoma generally is a ¹⁸F-FDG-avid tumor and PET/CT had good diagnostic performance with high sensitivity; 2) ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT influenced patient management in most cases avoiding useless therapies and choosing the best therapeutic approach; 3) prognostic value of PET/CT qualitative and semiquantitative parameters is only suggested with controversial reports.

Despite several limitations affect this analysis, especially related to the low number of articles and patients studied, plasmacytoma looks to be an ¹⁸F-FDG-avid tumor in most of the cases; ¹⁸F-FDG PET or PET/CT had good diagnostic performance and had a significant clinical impact in change of therapeutic approach. Moreover, a possible prognostic role of PET/CT features is described.