Can surgical adhesives may cause false positivity in follow-up positron emission tomography after lung cancer resection?

INTRODUCTION

Postoperative complications following thoracic procedures are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Alveolar air leaks and/or bronchopleural fistulas are associated with increased risk of infection, prolonged chest tube, and hospital stay duration and therefore generate economical concern for health care providers. A variety of surgical sealants or adhesives have been introduced to overcome this complication. Since intraoperative BioGlue® application can also cause an inflammatory reaction and mimic tumor recurrence on FDG PET-CT, in the present study we aimed to investigate its potential role in false-positive PET-CT results in patients operated for NSCLC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data of six patients who underwent resection for primary NSCLC at our institution (Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hacettepe University Medical Faculty) between January 2015 and December 2018 and had false positivity, due to BioGlue® application, at the bronchial stump in follow-up FDG PET-CT were retrospectively analyzed from a prospectively collected database.

RESULT

One of the 6 patients was female and 5 were male. The mean age was 68 years (range, 56-79 years). The average time interval between operation and postoperative FDG-PET imaging was 4.3 months (range, 4-6 months). Follow-up FDG-PET imaging SUVmax values ranged between 3.0 and 9.0 (median: 5.33). All patients have been evaluated by FDG-PET scan following the detection of soft tissue densities at the surgical site suspicious for recurrence at their follow-up chest CT scans. Four patients underwent a bronchoscopic examination, bronchial stumps were examined and multiple biopsies were taken from suspicious nodules or tissues and sent for pathologic examination. Histopathological results revealed inflammation which is compatible with foreign body granuloma, without any suspicion for malignancy, in all cases. Two patients were solely followed-up and subsequent FDG-PET imaging after 3 months revealed complete resolution of FDG uptake.

CONCLUSIONS

To avoid unnecessary biopsies or surgical procedures, the possibility of false-positive results due to surgical adhesive product use should be taken into account while interpreting follow-up FDG-PET imaging results and the operative reports should be written in detail, describing which surgical materials used and their exact application sites.