Measurement of [methyl-carbon-11]thymidine and its metabolites in head and neck tumors.
We made routine measurements of [methyl-11C]thymidine and its metabolites in human venous blood in 13 patients with head and neck tumors.


METHODS
Patients underwent PET imaging 10-30 min after bolus injection. Venous samples were collected at various intervals and water-soluble 11C-metabolites were analyzed with semipreparative HPLC on a C18 column with isotonic phosphate solution as an eluant.


RESULTS
After rapid clearance, total radioactivity remained constant at a level of about 1.2% of the initial injected activity.


CONCLUSIONS
In this group of patients with head and neck cancers, our results show that kinetic differences in various 11C-metabolites are small.
Goethals
P
P
Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, University of Ghent, Belgium.
van Eijkeren
M
M
Lodewyck
W
W
Dams
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013936:Thymidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
C012439:methylthymidine; D013936:Thymidine