Annals of nuclear medicine
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The relative utility of various preoperative diagnostic imaging modalities, including PET (utilizing FDG and FMT), CT, and MR imaging, for evaluation of lipoma and liposarcoma, especially well-differentiated liposarcoma, was investigated. ⋯ The presence of septa on MR images differentiated lipomas from liposarcoma, even well-differentiated type. PET analysis, especially FDG-PET, quantitatively provided not only the differentiation but also the metabolic separation among subtypes of liposarcoma. Interpretation of the visual diagnostic modalities requires extensive experience and carries a risk of ignoring a critical portion of malignancy. PET metabolic imaging may be an objective and useful modality for evaluating adipose tissue tumors preoperatively.