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18F-fluorothymidine kinetics of malignant brain tumors

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

18F-labeled deoxy-fluorothymidine (FLT), a marker of cellular proliferation, has been used in PET tumor imaging. Here, the FLT kinetics of malignant brain tumors were investigated.

Methods

Seven patients with high-grade tumors and two patients with metastases had 12 studies. After 1.5 MBq/kg 18F-FLT had been administered intravenously, dynamic PET studies were acquired for 75 min. Images were reconstructed with iterative algorithms, and corrections applied for attenuation and scatter. Parametric images were generated with factor analysis, and vascular input and tumor output functions were derived. Compartmental models were used to estimate the rate constants.

Results

The standard three-compartment model appeared appropriate to describe 18F-FLT uptake. Corrections for blood volume, metabolites, and partial volume were necessary. Kinetic parameters were correlated with tumor pathology and clinical follow-up data. Two groups could be distinguished: lesions that were tumor predominant (TumP) and lesions that were treatment change predominant (TrcP). Both groups had a widely varying k 1 (transport across the damaged BBB, range 0.02–0.2). Group TrcP had a relatively low k 3 (phosphorylation rate, range 0.017–0.027), whereas k 3 varied sevenfold in group TumP (range 0.015–0.11); the k 3 differences were significant (p < 0.01). The fraction of transported FLT that is phosphorylated [k 3/(k 2+k 3)] was able to separate the two groups (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

A three-compartment model with blood volume, metabolite, and partial volume corrections could adequately describe 18F-FLT kinetics in malignant brain tumors. Patients could be distinguished as having: (1) tumor-predominant or (2) treatment change-predominant lesions, with significantly different phosphorylation rates.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by DOE grant DE-FC02-02ER63420. The help of James Sayre, PhD with the statistical analyses was greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, AR-144 CHS 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-6942, USA

    Christiaan Schiepers, Wei Chen, Magnus Dahlbom & Sung-Cheng Huang

  2. Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Timothy Cloughesy

  3. Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Carl K. Hoh

Authors
  1. Christiaan Schiepers
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  2. Wei Chen
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  3. Magnus Dahlbom
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  4. Timothy Cloughesy
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  6. Sung-Cheng Huang
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Correspondence to Christiaan Schiepers.

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Schiepers, C., Chen, W., Dahlbom, M. et al. 18F-fluorothymidine kinetics of malignant brain tumors. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 34, 1003–1011 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-006-0354-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-006-0354-5

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