Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine
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PET is used to image active inflammatory processes by targeting the translocator protein (TSPO). In vitro, second-generation TSPO radioligands, such as PBR111, have been shown to bind to human tissue samples with either high affinity (high-affinity binders, HABs), low affinity (low-affinity binders, LABs), or an intermediate, mixed affinity (mixed-affinity binders, MABs). We previously explained these differences in affinity in human tissue via the rs6971 polymorphism in the TSPO gene and predicted that the specific signal from PET ligands in vivo would vary accordingly. In silico modeling predicted that (18)F-PBR111 would have a moderate to high specific-to-nonspecific ratio in the normal human brain. To test these predictions, we present here the analysis and modeling of (18)F-PBR111 data in healthy humans. ⋯ (18)F-PBR111 shows a high specific signal in the healthy human brain in vivo. A large component of the variability in the signal across subjects is explained by genetic variation and age, indicating that (18)F-PBR111 can be used for the quantitative assessment of TSPO expression.
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Hybrid PET/MR systems have recently entered clinical practice. Thus, the accuracy of MR-based attenuation correction in simultaneously acquired data can now be investigated. We assessed the accuracy of 4 methods of MR-based attenuation correction in lesions within soft tissue, bone, and MR susceptibility artifacts: 2 segmentation-based methods (SEG1, provided by the manufacturer, and SEG2, a method with atlas-based susceptibility artifact correction); an atlas- and pattern recognition-based method (AT&PR), which also used artifact correction; and a new method combining AT&PR and SEG2 (SEG2wBONE). ⋯ For soft-tissue lesions, none of the evaluated methods showed statistically significant errors. For bone lesions, significant underestimations of -16% and -11% occurred for methods in which bone tissue was ignored (SEG1 and SEG2). In the present attenuation correction schemes, uncorrected MR susceptibility artifacts typically result in reduced attenuation values, potentially leading to highly reduced PET standardized uptake values, rendering lesions indistinguishable from background. While AT&PR and SEG2wBONE show accurate results in both soft tissue and bone, SEG2wBONE uses a two-step approach for tissue classification, which increases the robustness of prediction and can be applied retrospectively if more precision in bone areas is needed.
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The application of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is emerging. To identify pretreatment prognostic indicators is crucial for patient selection and optimal individual therapy. The aim of this study was to determine whether (18)F-FDG PET and a combined (18)F-FDG-contrast CT parameter could be useful tools to predict tumor control for patients with HCC treated by SABR. ⋯ The use of (18)F FDG PET to predict tumor control is feasible. T SUV max with a cutoff value of 3.2 is the best prognostic indicator. We suggest that (18)F-FDG PET may be a reference for prognostic prediction, patient selection, and radiation dose adjustment for HCC patients treated with SABR.
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Clinical Trial
Feasibility and predictability of perioperative PET and estrogen receptor ligand in patients with invasive breast cancer.
The presence of estrogen receptor (ER) in breast cancer is a prognostic indicator for both disease-free and overall survival. 16α-(18)F-fluoro-17β-estradiol ((18)F-FES) with PET is a noninvasive test for evaluation of ER expression and has been used for predicting response to endocrine therapy in patients with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to correlate (18)F-FES PET and ER expression in patients with primary, operable breast cancer. ⋯ (18)F-FES PET SUV correlated with ER immunohistochemistry expression but not gene expression in our patients with early breast cancer. We found that size of primary tumor was significantly associated with (18)F-FES PET SUV. (18)F-FES PET is highly predictive for metastatic disease and helped in the identification of patients with metastatic disease in a preoperative setting.
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Previous studies have shown that total lesion glycolysis (TLG) may serve as a prognostic indicator in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). We sought to investigate whether the textural features of pretreatment (18)F-FDG PET/CT images can provide any additional prognostic information over TLG and clinical staging in patients with advanced T-stage OPSCC. ⋯ Uniformity extracted from the normalized gray-level cooccurrence matrix represents an independent prognostic predictor in patients with advanced T-stage OPSCC. A scoring system was developed and may serve as a risk-stratification strategy for guiding therapy.