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Radionuclide imaging of perfusion and hypoxia

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

Abstract

Purpose

We present a review of radionuclide imaging of tumour vascular physiology as it relates to angiogenesis. We focus on clinical trials in human subjects using PET and SPECT to evaluate tumour physiology, in particular blood flow and hypoxia.

Methods

A systematic review of literature based on MEDLINE searches updated in February 2010 was performed.

Results

Twenty-nine studies were identified for review: 14 dealt with 15O-water PET perfusion imaging, while 8 dealt with 18F-fluoromisonidazole PET hypoxia imaging. Five used SPECT methods. The studies varied widely in technical quality and reporting of methods.

Conclusions

A subset of radionuclide methods offers accurate quantitative scientific observations on tumour vascular physiology of relevance to angiogenesis and its treatment. The relationship between cellular processes of angiogenesis and changing physiological function remains poorly defined. The promise of quantitative functional imaging at high specificity and low administered dose sustains interest in radionuclide methods.

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Notes

  1. The term VT is the result of a recent consensus and replaces previous usage, notably VD [47]. For consistency we adhere to the current nomenclature.

  2. We advocate use of the term ‘repeatability’, rather than ‘reproducibility’ in reliability analysis of medical imaging. See our discussion in [8], based on ISO 3534 (cited in [50]).

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Acknowledgements

GL and PP’s collaboration was supported by Cancer Research UK. We thank Terry Jones for helpful comments.

Conflicts of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Auckland Regional Cancer and Blood Service, Auckland District Health Board, Private Bag 92024, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    George Laking

  2. Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Pat Price

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Correspondence to George Laking.

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Laking, G., Price, P. Radionuclide imaging of perfusion and hypoxia. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 37 (Suppl 1), 20–29 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-010-1453-x

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