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NCI-Sponsored Trial for the Evaluation of Safety and Preliminary Efficacy of 3′-Deoxy-3′-[18F]fluorothymidine (FLT) as a Marker of Proliferation in Patients with Recurrent Gliomas: Preliminary Efficacy Studies

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Abstract

Purpose

3′-Deoxy-3′-[18F]fluorothymidine ([18F]FLT) is being developed for imaging cellular proliferation. The goals were to explore the capacity of FLT-positron emission tomography (PET) to distinguish between recurrence and radionecrosis in gliomas and compare the results to those obtained with 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG).

Procedures

Fifteen patients with tumor recurrence and four with radionecrosis, determined by clinical course and magnetic resonance imaging results, were studied by dynamic [18F]FLT-PET with arterial blood sampling. A two-tissue compartment four-rate constant model was used to determine metabolic flux (K FLT), blood to tissue transport (K 1), and phosphorylation (k 3). FDG-PET scans were obtained 75–90 min postinjection.

Results

K FLT and k 3, but not K 1 or k 3/k 2 + k 3, reached significance for separating the recurrence from radionecrosis groups. Standardized uptake value and visual analyses of FLT or FDG images did not reach significance.

Conclusions

K FLT (flux) appears to distinguish recurrence from radionecrosis better than other parameters, FLT and FDG semiquantitative approaches, or visual analysis of images of either tracer.

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Acknowledgments

Pam Pham, Michele F. Wanner, Jeffrey Scharnhorst, and Neha Patel are gratefully acknowledged for their indispensable help. Supported by National Cancer Institute Contract N01-CM-37008 and NIH grants CA42045 and S10 RR17229.

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Correspondence to Alexander M. Spence.

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Spence, A.M., Muzi, M., Link, J.M. et al. NCI-Sponsored Trial for the Evaluation of Safety and Preliminary Efficacy of 3′-Deoxy-3′-[18F]fluorothymidine (FLT) as a Marker of Proliferation in Patients with Recurrent Gliomas: Preliminary Efficacy Studies. Mol Imaging Biol 11, 343–355 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-009-0215-2

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