| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | RSS | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||
Clinical Investigations |
1 Division of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, Liège, Belgium
2 Cyclotron Research Center, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
3 Division of Hematology-Oncology, University Hospital, Liège, Belgium
4 Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital, Liège, Belgium
5 Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University Hospital, Liège, Belgium
18F-FDG PET imaging is now established as a valuable tool for evaluating cancer patients. However, a limitation of 18F-FDG is its absence of specificity for tumor. Both protein synthesis and amino acid transport are enhanced in most tumor cells, but their metabolism is less affected in inflammation. We therefore decided to evaluate the ability of PET with 2-18F-fluoro-L-tyrosine (18F-TYR) to visualize cancer lesions in patients compared with 18F-FDG PET. Methods: 18F-FDG PET and 18F-TYR PET were performed on 23 patients with histologically proven malignancies (11 non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), 10 lymphomas, and 2 head and neck carcinomas). Fully corrected, whole-body PET studies were obtained on separate days. 18F-FDG studies were performed after routine clinical fashion. 18F-TYR studies were started 36 ± 6 min after tracer injection and a second scan centered over a reference lesion was acquired after completion of the whole-body survey—on average, 87 min after injection. Standardized uptake values (SUVs) were calculated for all abnormal foci and for various normal structures. Results were compared with pathologic or correlative studies. Results: 18F-FDG PET correctly identified 54 malignant lesions, among which 36 were also visualized with 18F-TYR (67%). 18F-TYR did not detect any additional lesion. Tumor SUVs (SUVbw, 5.2 vs. 2.5), tumor-to-muscle (7.4 vs. 2.7), and tumor-to-mediastinum activity ratios (3 vs. 1.4) were higher with 18F-FDG than with 18F-TYR. Two of 11 NSCLCs and 4 of 10 lymphomas were understaged with 18F-TYR compared with 18F-FDG. Although the NSCLC lesions missed by 18F-TYR PET were small, several large lymphoma lesions did not accumulate the tracer. In 4 patients, 18F-TYR–positive lesions coexisted with 18F-TYR–negative lesions. There was a high physiologic 18F-TYR uptake by the pancreas (average SUVbw, 10.3) and the liver (average SUVbw, 6.3). Muscle and bone marrow uptakes were also higher with 18F-TYR than with 18F-FDG: average SUVbw, 1 versus 0.7 and 2.6 versus 1.8, respectively. There was no change over time in the 18F-TYR uptake by the tumors or the normal structures. Conclusion: 18F-TYR PET is not superior to 18F-FDG PET for staging patients with NSCLC and lymphomas.
Key Words: 2-18F-fluoro-L-tyrosine • 18F-FDG • PET • cancer • protein synthesis
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  I. Rutten, J.-E. Cabay, N. Withofs, C. Lemaire, J. Aerts, V. Baart, and R. Hustinx PET/CT of Skull Base Meningiomas Using 2-18F-Fluoro-L-Tyrosine: Initial Report J. Nucl. Med., May 1, 2007; 48(5): 720 - 725. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Pauleit, G. Stoffels, W. Schaden, K. Hamacher, D. Bauer, L. Tellmann, H. Herzog, S. Broer, H. H. Coenen, and K.-J. Langen PET with O-(2-18F-Fluoroethyl)-L-Tyrosine in Peripheral Tumors: First Clinical Results J. Nucl. Med., March 1, 2005; 46(3): 411 - 416. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Lahoutte, V. Caveliers, S. M.R. Camargo, R. Franca, T. Ramadan, E. Veljkovic, J. Mertens, A. Bossuyt, and F. Verrey SPECT and PET Amino Acid Tracer Influx via System L (h4F2hc-hLAT1) and Its Transstimulation J. Nucl. Med., September 1, 2004; 45(9): 1591 - 1596. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. W. Friedberg and V. Chengazi PET Scans in the Staging of Lymphoma: Current Status Oncologist, October 1, 2003; 8(5): 438 - 447. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | RSS | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGY | THE JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE |
