TABLE 2

18F-FLT PET Studies in Patients with Breast Cancer

No. of patientsStudy aim(s)ResultsReference
18Determine whether early changes in 18F-FLT PET can predict benefit from docetaxelDocetaxel decreased 18F-FLT uptake; early reduction in tumor SUV correlated with tumor size changes after 3 cycles and predicted midtherapy response58
13Define objective criteria for 18F-FLT response and examine whether 18F-FLT PET can be used to quantify early response of stage II–IV breast cancer to FECClinical response at day 60 was related to reduction in 18F-FLT uptake at 1 wk; decreases in Ki-67 and SUV90 at 1 wk discriminated between clinical response and stable disease59
15Evaluate whether 18F-FLT PET can predict final postoperative histopathologic response in primary locally advanced breast cancer after 1 cycle of NACPotential utility for early monitoring of response60
28Investigate diagnostic performance of 18F-FLT PET in women with suspect breast findings on conventional imagingSUV of malignant lesions was higher than that of benign lesions61
30Investigate quantitative methods of tumor proliferation with 18F-FLT PET before and after single bevacizumab administration and correlate 18F-FLT uptake with Ki-6718F-FLT uptake decreased after treatment62
20Assess feasibility of 18F-FLT PET/CT for predicting response to NAC and for comparing baseline 18F-FLT with Ki-67No association of baseline, postchemotherapy, or change in SUVmax with pathologic response to NAC; prechemotherapy Ki-67 correlated with SUVmax63
15Validate approach to quantify 18F-FLT PET data in stage II–IV breast cancer patients and study whether 18F-FLT PET can predict early treatment responseDifferences before and after therapy in mean voxel uptake in tumor did not allow complete responder/nonresponder classification64
12Evaluate use of 18F-FLT PET for diagnosis of breast cancerTotals of 13/14 primary tumors and 7/8 histologically proven lymph node metastases showed uptake65
14Examine side-by-side 18F-FDG imaging and 18F-FLT imaging for monitoring and predicting chemotherapy responseMean change in 18F-FLT uptake correlated with late changes in CA27.29 and CT response66
10Study feasibility of 18F-FLT PET for breast cancer visualizationTotals of 8/10 primary tumors and 2/7 axillary lymph node metastases showed uptake67
  • FEC = 5-fluorouracil–epirubicin–cyclophosphamide; Ki-67 = cellular marker for proliferation; NAC = neoadjuvant chemotherapy.