Staging of lymph nodes with FDG dual-headed PET in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Accurate assessment of mediastinal lymph node involvement in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is necessary to select patients for direct surgical treatment. The aims of the present study were to assess the feasibility of staging NSCLC with FDG using a dual-headed positron emission tomographic (PET) camera and to compare this non-invasive technique with computed tomography (CT) and lymph node sampling, since both modalities are currently used for staging NSCLC. Thirty-three patients (29 men and 4 women, mean age 60 years) with newly diagnosed NSCLC were studied. In all patients, CT, FDG dual-headed PET and mediastinoscopy were performed within 4 weeks. The results of mediastinoscopy were used to select patients for thoracotomy. For both the assessment of individual lymph node involvement and the patient-based classification, the results of FDG dual-headed PET and CT were compared using the McNemar test. Thirty-one of 187 lymph nodes studied contained tumour metastases. FDG dual-headed PET showed a significantly higher sensitivity (P < 0.001) and specificity (P < 0.001) than CT. FDG dual-headed PET and CT correctly staged 27 and 20 patients, respectively. Due to the significantly higher negative predictive value of FDG dual-headed PET versus CT (P = 0.012), it was a better non-invasive diagnostic tool for selecting patients for surgery. In seven of eight patients, additional intrapulmonary sites of increased uptake were found, which revealed malignancy on histological examination. CT was false-negative in three of these patients. In one patients, increased FDG uptake was caused by an infection. In conclusion, it is possible to stage mediastinal lymph nodes in patients with NSCLC using a dual-headed PET camera. The high negative predictive value of FDG dual-headed PET suggests that mediastinoscopy may be omitted in patients with NSCLC.     

PET/CT in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma using [18F]fluorocholine: preliminary comparison with [18F]FDG PET/CT

Purpose The diagnostic accuracy of [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET is insufficient to characterise hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in liver masses and to diagnose all cases of recurrent HCC. HCC has been reported to take up [¹¹C]acetate, but routine use of this tracer is difficult. Choline is another tracer of lipid metabolism, present in large amounts in HCC. In a proof-of-concept study, we evaluated [¹⁸F]fluorocholine (FCH) uptake by HCC and compared FCH PET/CT with FDG PET/CT.Methods Twelve patients with newly diagnosed (n=8) or recurrent HCC (n=4) were prospectively enrolled. HCC was assessed by histology in eight cases and by American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) criteria in four cases. All patients underwent whole-body PET/CT 10 min after injection of 4 MBq/kg FCH. Within 1 week, 9 of the 12 patients also underwent whole-body FDG PET/CT 1 h after injection of 5 MBq/kg FDG.Results The per-patient analysis showed a detection rate of 12/12 using FCH PET/CT for both newly diagnosed and recurrent HCC. The median signal to noise ratio was 1.5±0.38. There was a trend towards a higher FCH SUV_max in well-differentiated HCC (15.6±7.9 vs 11.9±0.9, NS). Of the nine patients who underwent FCH and FDG PET/CT, all nine were positive with FCH whereas only five were positive with FDG.Conclusion FCH provides a high detection rate for HCC, making it potentially useful in the initial evaluation of HCC or in the detection of recurrent disease. The favourable result of this proof-of-concept study opens the way to a phase III prospective study.     

肺癌术前18F-FDG PET/CT对纵隔淋巴结外科分期的临床价值

目的 探讨肺癌术前18F-FDG PET/CT对纵隔淋巴结转移外科分期的诊断价值.方法 回顾分析68例肺癌患者术前18F-FDG PET/CT及CT对纵隔淋巴结转移的诊断及分期结果,并与术后病理结果对照.统计学分析采用x2检验和t检验.结果 68例患者共切除纵隔淋巴结222枚,其中84枚(37.8％)病理检查证实为转移.18F-FDG PET/CT与CT诊断纵隔淋巴结转移的灵敏度、特异性、准确性、阳性及阴性预测值分别为71.4％(60/84)、66.7％(92/138)、68.5％(152/222)、56.6％(60/106)、79.3％(92/116)与48.8％(41/84)、49.3％(68/138)、49.1％(109/222)、36.9％(41/111)、61.3％(68/111),差异均有统计学意义(x2=8.96、8.57、17.19、8.43及8.88,P均＜0.05);18F-FDG PET/CT与CT对纵隔淋巴结的分期与病理分期的一致率分别为73.5％(50/68)及41.2％(28/68),差异有统计学意义(x2=14.55,P＜0.01);其中18F-FDG PET/CT对N1及N2期淋巴结诊断的准确性分别为66.7％ (10/15)和79.2％ (19/24),明显高于CT的13.3％ (2/15)和45.8％(11/24)x2=8.89和5.69,P均＜0.05.淋巴结短径≥10 mm组SUVmax明显高于短径＜10 mm组(5.5±2.8与2.2±0.9,t=5.17,P＜0.05).结论 术前18F-FDG PET/CT对肺癌纵隔淋巴结的诊断和分期优于CT,其对适宜手术病例优化治疗决策具有临床指导意义.     

Predictive role of post-treatment [18F]FDG PET/CT in patients with uterine cervical cancer

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy of post-treatment positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for identification of tumor recurrence, and to determine whether [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake measured as the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max) has predictive role regarding survival in patients with uterine cervical cancer.

Methods

Medical records from 276 women with uterine cervical cancer who had post-treatment [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT performed were retrospectively reviewed. Results of PET/CT scans were compared with histological or clinical examination.

Results

Ninety-five (34.4%) of the 276 patients had documented recurrence by either surgical biopsy or clinical and imaging follow-up. Median duration from treatment to PET/CT scan was 24 months (range, 6–307). The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of post-treatment PET/CT were 94.7%, 87.8%, 80.4%, 97%, and 90.2%, respectively. The PET/CT scan modified both the diagnostic or treatment plan in 67 patients (24.3%). Patients were divided into two groups according to cut-off SUV_max established on the basis of ROC analysis (<5.25 vs. ≥5.25), and there was a significant difference in OS between groups (p = 0.001). In addition, the 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and OS rates of patients with a negative PET/CT scan for recurrence were significantly better than those with a positive PET/CT (98.62% vs. 17.83%, p < 0.0001 for PFS, 99.31% vs. 85.38%, p = 0.0015 for OS).

Conclusion

Post-treatment PET/CT scan is a sensitive and accurate surveillance modality, and provides prognostic information in uterine cervical cancer. Furthermore, it may allow individualization of patient care.     

Collision lung cancer on F-18 FDG PET/CT

We report a case of a primary collision lung cancer consisting of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. A 73-year-old man with an abnormality found on chest radiograph in the right lower lobe was examined by FDG PET/CT (F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography). The tumor was composed of 2 different morphologic and FDG accumulation portions and a collision tumor was suspected. Histopathologically, this tumor was composed of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Each element was clearly distinguished but touched. FDG PET/CT is a useful tool to diagnose collision tumor as it shows morphologic and metabolic differences between 2 distinct tumor components.     

Role of [18F]FDG PET in prediction of KRAS and EGFR mutation status in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

Purpose

The tumour molecular profile predicts the activity of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, tissue availability and tumour heterogeneity limit its assessment. We evaluated whether [¹⁸F]FDG PET might help predict KRAS and EFGR mutation status in NSCLC.

Methods

Between January 2005 and October 2011, 340 NSCLC patients were tested for KRAS and EGFR mutation status. We identified patients with stage III and IV disease who had undergone [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT scanning for initial staging. SUVpeak, SUVmax and SUVmean of the single hottest tumour lesions were calculated, and their association with KRAS and EGFR mutation status was assessed. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and a multivariate analysis (including SUVmean, gender, age and AJCC stage) were performed to identify the potential value of [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT for predicting KRAS mutation.

Results

From 102 patients staged using [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT, 28 (27 %) had KRAS mutation (KRAS+), 22 (22 %) had EGFR mutation (EGFR+) and 52 (51 %) had wild-type KRAS and EGFR profiles (WT). KRAS+ patients showed significantly higher [¹⁸F]FDG uptake than EGFR+ and WT patients (SUVmean 9.5, 5.7 and 6.6, respectively; p?18F]FDG uptake between EGFR+ patients and WT patients. ROC curve analysis for KRAS mutation status discrimination yielded an area under the curve of 0.740 for SUVmean (p?Conclusion NSCLC patients with tumours harbouring KRAS mutations showed significantly higher [¹⁸F]FDG uptake than WT patients, as assessed in terms of SUVpeak, SUVmax and SUVmean. A multivariate model based on age, gender, AJCC stage and SUVmean might be used as a predictive marker of KRAS mutation status in patients with stage III or IV NSCLC.     

Pretreatment [18F]FDG PET/CT and MRI in the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Annals of Nuclear Medicine - The present study aimed to assess the prognostic interest of metabolic and anatomic parameters derived from 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose positron emission...     

[68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 and [18F] FDG PET/CT for the diagnosis of primary and metastatic lesions in patients with hepatic cancer

European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging -     

Respiratory gated [18F]FDG PET/CT for target volume delineation in stereotactic radiation treatment of liver metastases

Purpose

The use of 4D-[¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT in combination with respiratory gated magnet resonance imaging (MRI) in target volume definition for stereotactic radiation of liver metastases was investigated.

Methods and materials

A total of 18?patients received respiration gated FDG-PET/CT and MRI. Data were fused using a rigid co-registration algorithm. The quality of the co-registration was rated on a scale from 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor) for co-registration of MRI with gated PET and ungated PET. Gross tumor volume (GTV) was delineated in CT (GTV?_CT), MRI (GTV_MRI), and PET (GTV_PET). MRI- and PET-based GTVs were defined by three observers each. Interobserver variability was calculated for all patients as well as for subgroups with and without previous treatment of liver metastases. All GTVs were compared for all patients and separately for patients with previous local therapy. In addition, a semiautomatic segmentation algorithm was applied on the PET images.

Results

Co-registration? between MR and PET images was rated with 3.3 in average when non-gated PET was used and improved significantly (p?CT ?was 51.5?ml, GTV_MRI ?51.8?ml, and the average GTV_PET ?48.1?ml. Volumes delineated in MRI were 9.9% larger compared to those delineated in CT. Volumes delineated in PET were 13.8% larger than in MRI. The differences between the GTVs were more pronounced in patients with previous treatment. The GTVs defined in MRI showed an interobserver variability of 47.9% (84.1% with previous treatment and 26.2% without previous treatment). The PET-defined GTVs showed an interobserver variability of 21% regardless of previous treatment. Semiautomatic segmentation did not provide satisfying results.

Conclusion

FDG-PET can distinguish vital tumor tissue and scar tissue, and therefore alters the GTV especially in patients with previous local treatment. In addition, it reduces the interobserver variability significantly compared to MRI. However, respiratory gated PET is necessary for good co-registration of PET and MRI.     

Preoperative [18F]FDG PET/CT maximum standardized uptake value predicts recurrence of uterine cervical cancer

Purpose  

To determine if preoperative [¹⁸F]FDG-PET/CT imaging has prognostic significance in patients with uterine cervical cancer.     

Imaging of proliferation with 18F-FLT PET/CT versus 18F-FDG PET/CT in non-small-cell lung cancer

Purpose  

To compare the diagnostic efficacies of ¹⁸F-FLT and ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), focusing on the correlation between FLT and FDG tumour uptake and tumour cell proliferation as indicated by the cyclin D1 labelling index.