O-(2-[18F-]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine PET in gliomas: influence of data processing in different centres

Christian P. Filss, Nathalie L. Albert, Guido Boening, Elena Rota Kops, Bogdana Suchorska, Gabriele Stoffels, Norbert Galldiks, Nadim J. Shah, Felix M. Mottaghy, Peter Bartenstein, Joerg C. Tonn, Karl-Josef Langen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: PET using O-(2-[F-18] fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (F-18-FET) is an established method for brain tumour diagnostics, but data processing varies in different centres. This study analyses the influence of methodological differences between two centres for tumour characterization with F-18-FET PET using the same PET scanner. Methodological differences between centres A and B in the evaluation of F-18-FET PET data were identified for (1) framing of PET dynamic data, (2) data reconstruction, (3) cut-off values for tumour delineation to determine tumour-to-brain ratios (TBR) and tumour volume (Tvol) and (4) ROI definition to determine time activity curves (TACs) in the tumour. Based on the F-18-FET PET data of 40 patients with untreated cerebral gliomas (20 WHO grade II, 10 WHO grade III, 10 WHO grade IV), the effect of different data processing in the two centres on TBRmean, TBRmax, T-vol, time-to-peak (TTP) and slope of the TAC was compared. Further, the effect on tumour grading was evaluated by ROC analysis.

Results: Significant differences between centres A and B were found especially for TBRmax (2.84 +/- 0.99 versus 3.34 +/- 1.13; p <0.001), T-vol (1.14 +/- 1.28 versus 1.51 +/- 1.44; p <0.001) and TTP (22.4 +/- 8.3 min versus 30.8 +/- 6.3 min; p <0.001) and minor differences for TBRmean and slope. Tumour grading was not influenced by different data processing.

Conclusions: Variable data processing of F-18-FET PET in different centres leads to significant differences especially for TBRmax and T-vol. A standardization of data processing and evaluation is needed to make F-18-FET PET comparable between different centres.

Original languageEnglish
Article number64
Number of pages8
JournalEJNMMI Research
Volume7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Aug 2017

Keywords

  • Brain tumours
  • FET PET
  • Tumour-to-brain ratios
  • Dynamic FET PET
  • SEGMENTED ATTENUATION CORRECTION
  • NEUROONCOLOGY WORKING GROUP
  • STANDARDIZED UPTAKE VALUES
  • FILTERED BACK-PROJECTION
  • CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM
  • BRAIN-TUMORS
  • O-(2-F-18-FLUOROETHYL)-L-TYROSINE PET
  • ITERATIVE RECONSTRUCTION
  • RESPONSE ASSESSMENT

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