Cancers, Vol. 13, Pages 355: [18F]FET PET Uptake Indicates High Tumor and Low Necrosis Content in Brain Metastasis

Cancers, Vol. 13, Pages 355: [18F]FET PET Uptake Indicates High Tumor and Low Necrosis Content in Brain Metastasis Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers13020355 Authors: Hanno S. Meyer Friederike Liesche-Starnecker Mona Mustafa Igor Yakushev Benedikt Wiestler Bernhard Meyer Jens Gempt Amino acid positron emission tomography (PET) has been employed in the management of brain metastases. Yet, histopathological correlates of PET findings remain poorly understood. We investigated the relationship of O-(2-[18F]Fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ([18F]FET) PET, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and histology in brain metastases. Fifteen patients undergoing brain metastasis resection were included prospectively. Using intraoperative navigation, 39 targeted biopsies were obtained from parts of the metastases that were either PET-positive or negative and MRI-positive or negative. Tumor and necrosis content, proliferation index, lymphocyte infiltration, and vascularization were determined histopathologically. [18F]FET PET had higher specificity than MRI (66% vs. 56%) and increased sensitivity for tumor from 73% to 93% when combined with MRI. Tumor content per sample increased with PET uptake (rs = 0.3, p = 0.045), whereas necrosis content decreased (rs = −0.4, p = 0.014). PET-positive samples had more tumor (median: 75%; interquartile range: 10–97%; p = 0.016) than PET-negative samples. The other investigated histological properties were not correlated with ...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research