title: Brain tumor imaging with 99mTc-tetrofosmin: comparison with 201Tl, 99mTc-MIBI, and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to assess the ability of technetium-99m-tetrofosmin (99mTc-TF) to predict tumor malignancy and to compare its uptake with that of thallium-201 (201Tl), technetium-99m-hexakis-2-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile (99mTc-MIBI) and fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) in brain tumors. 99mTc-TF single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging was performed in 22 patients with brain tumors and 3 healthy controls. Some of the patients underwent 201Tl (n = 12) and 99mTc-MIBI SPECT (n = 14) and 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) (n = 12). The radioactivity ratio of tumor to contralateral normal tissue (T/N) and the ratio of tumor to contralateral white matter (T/WM) were calculated in SPECT and PET images, respectively. In healthy controls, 99mTc-TF uptake was seen only in scalp, in the choroid plexus and pituitary gland, but not in normal cerebral parenchyma. TF T/N in low grade gliomas (2.8+/-0.4) was significantly lower than that in high grade gliomas (22.5+/-29.8) and malignant non-gliomas (8.3+/-2.8) without overlap of values (p = 0.003 and p = 0.014, respectively). TF T/N was significantly correlated with MIBI T/N (p = 0.92, p = 0.001), Tl T/N (p = 0.72, p = 0.017), and FDG T/WM (p = 0.65. p = 0.031). There was an excellent agreement between TF T/N and MIBI T/N values on linear regression analysis (MIBI T/N = -0.63+/-0.97 x TF T/N). These preliminary results indicate that SPECT imaging with 99mTc-TF may be useful for the non-invasive grading of brain tumors. They also suggest that 99mTc-TF and 99mTc-MIBI may accumulate in brain tumors by a similar mechanism or in relation to a similar process of tumor cell proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
chemical_list: D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C078700:technetium tc-99m tetrofosmin; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi