HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sutinen, E. Articles by Minn, H. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Sutinen, E. Articles by Minn, H.

Nodal Staging of Lymphoma with Whole-Body PET: Comparison of [¹¹C]Methionine and FDG

Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Department of Radiology, and Turku PET Center, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland

Accurate staging is elementary for optimal management of malignant lymphoma. Advanced cases may be curable with multidrug chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy, whereas limited disease can sometimes be cured by local radiotherapy only. Recently, FDG imaging with whole-body PET (WB PET) has been introduced as an accurate method for staging lymphoma. We evaluated the usefulness of L-[methyl-¹¹C]methionine (MET) in comparison with FDG as a tracer for nodal staging of lymphoma with WB PET. Methods: Nineteen patients with untreated, histologically proven malignant lymphoma underwent WB PET imaging with MET and FDG within 1 wk before treatment. Fourteen patients had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), and 5 had Hodgkin's disease (HD). Two of these 19 patients were excluded from the final analysis because of hyperglycemia. WB PET images using FDG and MET were visually compared by 3 independent interpreters, and the PET findings were correlated with the data on the basis of conventional staging studies. Results: Fifty-five of 178 lymph node regions were classified as diseased both by FDG PET and by CT, and 54 of 178 were classified as diseased both by MET PET and by CT. In addition, 11 lymph node regions that CT showed to be normal avidly accumulated FDG. Ten of these lymph node regions also had clear uptake of MET. Another 4 and 5 lymph node regions were enlarged at CT but were judged to be normal by FDG and MET PET, respectively. In nodal staging, both FDG PET and MET PET would have upstaged the disease in 3 patients. MET PET would also have downstaged the disease in 1 patient. Conclusion: FDG and MET seem to be comparable in the detection of lymphoma by WB PET. However, visual interpretation of the images tends to be hampered more by physiologic accumulations of MET than by normal accumulations of FDG, and MET may be preferable to FDG in hyperglycemic patients undergoing staging studies with PET.

Key Words: whole-body PET • lymphoma • FDG • L-[methyl-¹¹C]methionine

Received Nov. 8, 1999; revision accepted May 5, 2000.

For correspondence or reprints contact: Eija Sutinen, MD, Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku University Central Hospital, P.O. Box 52, FIN-20521 Turku, Finland.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Muntanola, F. Bosch, P. Arguis, E. Arellano-Rodrigo, C. Ayuso, E. Gine, M. Crespo, P. Abrisqueta, C. Moreno, F. Cobo, et al. Abdominal Computed Tomography Predicts Progression in Patients With Rai Stage 0 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia J. Clin. Oncol., April 20, 2007; 25(12): 1576 - 1580. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]