Incidental anal 18fluorodeoxyglucose uptake: Should we further examine the patient?

Table 2 Characteristics of population investigated (n = 48)

	All	No treatment offered	Treatment offered	P value
	n (%) or mean ± SD	n (%) or mean ± SD	n (%) or mean ± SD
	n = 48	n = 30	n = 18
Assessmenta by				0.0457
Proctologist	30 (62.5)	15 (50.0)	15 (83.3)
Gastroenterologist	10 (20.8)	7 (23.3)	3 (16.7)
Oncologist	2 (4.2)	2 (6.7)
Radiotherapist	5 (10.4)	5 (16.7)
Surgeon	1 (2.1)	1 (3.3)
Examination
Anal margin	46 (95.8)	29 (96.7)	17 (94.4)	0.71
Rectal digital examination	40 (85.2)	25 (86.2)	15 (83.3)	0.78
Anoscopy	24 (51.1)	12 (41.4)	12 (66.7)	0.09
Colonoscopy	17 (36.2)	11 (38.0)	6 (33.3)	0.75
Examination under general anesthesiaa	5 (10.6)	1 (3.5)	4 (22.2)	0.04
Biopsies	8 (17.0)	3 (10.3)	5 (27.8)	0.12
Endoanal ultrasound	7 (14.9)	5 (17.2)	2 (11.1)	0.56
Pelvic MRI	2 (4.3)	1 (3.5)	1 (5.6)	0.73
Symptom	19 (40.4)	9 (31.0)	10 (58.8)	0.06
18FDG PET/CT
SUV meana	5.9 (2.6)	5.2 (1.9)	7.2 (3.2)	0.02
SUV maxa	10.2 (4.5)	9.0 (3.3)	12.4 (5.4)	0.02
MV50	4.0 (2.3)	4.4 (2.4)	3.3 (2.0)	0.13
MV41	6.4 (3.5)	7.2 (3.6)	5.1 (3.0)	0.05
MV 30a	11.4 (6.0)	12.9 (6.3)	8.9 (4.4)	0.03
Diagnosis of a proctological diseaseb	33 (68.8)	15 (50.0)	18 (100.0)	0.003
Haemorrhoidal disease	19	2	12
Anal fissure	6	1	5
Recurrence of rectal adenocarcinoma	2	0	2
Condyloma	3	1	2
Fecal impaction	1	1	0
Anal suppuration	1	0	1
Solitary rectal ulcer syndrome	1	0	1
Treatment	18 (37.5)		18 (100)
Medical treatment			11 (61.1)
Surgical treatment			5 (27.8)
Medical and instrumental treatments			1 (5.6)
Endoscopic treatment			1 (5.6)

^aP < 0.05;

^bP < 0.01. MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging;

¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT: Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography; SUV: Maximum standardized uptake value; MV: metabolic volume.