Abstract: Objective To compare the accuracies of ¹⁸F-FDG positron emission tomography/X-ray computed tomography (PET/CT) for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCC).Methods The ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging data of 132 patients with liver cancer were collected. There were 90 patients with HCC and 42 patients with CCC. ¹⁸F-FDG concentration higher than the surrounding normal liver tissue was diagnosed as positive. The values of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in the diagnosis of HCC and CCC were evaluated by consistency analysis.Results The SUVmax value of HCC patients was 5.12±2.03, which was significantly lower than that of 7.64±2.14 in CCC patients (t=6.529,P=0.000). By consistency analysis, ¹⁸F-FDG was found positive in 50 of the 90 HCC patients, with sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa values of 0.577, 0.786, 0.644 and 0.307, respectively. The consistency analysis of ¹⁸F-FDG in CCC patients shown that 39 of the 42 CCC patients were positive, with sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa values of 0.929, 0.978, 0.962 and 0.912, respectively, which were higher than those of HCC patients.Conclusion The SUVmax value of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT for diagnosing CCC was significantly higher than that of HCC, so as to the accuracy.

Key words: 18 fluorodeoxyglucose, Positron emission tomography, X-ray computed tomography, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Cholangiocarcinoma, accuracy