Presurgical Identification of Uterine Smooth Muscle Malignancies through the Characteristic FDG Uptake Pattern on PET Scans

Figure 1

(a) The histopathological examination of a leiomyosarcoma revealed an abrupt transition between the area of coagulative tumor cell necrosis (letter N) and viable, well-preserved tumor cells (letter T) (hematoxylin and eosin staining, 40x magnification). (b) Schematic representation of the newly developed PET parameter (metabolic tumor/necrosis ratio) used in this study for uterine tumors. The metabolic tumor/necrosis ratio was defined as the ratio between surface tumor metabolism and the necrotic core metabolism.

(a)

(b)