How Effective Are Noninvasive Tests for Diagnosing Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors in Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1? Diagnosing MPNST in NF1 Patients

Table 1

Descriptive statistics and potential predictors of malignancy for the 70 peripheral nerve sheath tumors in our study population of 41 NF1 patients. These included patient characteristics (age and gender), PET findings (SUV_max, SUV_peak, and TLR), MRI findings (size, depth relative to the fascia, and necrosis) and clinical findings (pain, tumor enlargement, and nerve symptoms), and histologic diagnosis.

Patient characteristics	Age (years)	Mean	30
		Median	28
		Range	9–62
	Gender (# of tumors each)	Female	41
		Male	29
Clinical findings	Pain	Yes	46
		No	14
	Enlargement	Yes	46
		No	14
	Nerve symptoms	Yes	23
		No	37
MRI findings	Size (cm)	Mean	6.5
		Median	5.4
		Range	1.5–20.0
	Depth (relative to fascia)	Superficial	7
		Deep	63
	Necrosis	Yes	19
		No	18
PET findings	SUVmax	Mean	7.9
		Median	7.4
		Range	0.7–22.6
	SUVpeak	Mean	6.4
		Median	5.0
		Range	0.5–18.7
	TLR	Mean	4.0
		Median	3.7
		Range	0.4–11.9
Histology	Malignant	Yes	36
		No	34