Quantitative evaluation of 2-deoxy-2[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose-positron emission tomography imaging on the woodchuck model of hepatocellular carcinoma with histological correlation.
OBJECTIVE
The Eastern woodchuck (Marmota monax) is considered as a naturally occurring animal model of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The performance of 2-deoxy-2-[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) for imaging HCC on the woodchuck using Positron emission tomography (PET) was investigated in this study.


METHODS
Dynamic FDG-PET scans were performed on five woodchucks with HCC and one healthy woodchuck before removal and processing of the liver tissues for histology. The parameters of a two-tissue compartment model with dual input were estimated using weighted least squares (WLS).


RESULTS
Ten HCCs were confirmed histologically. Six HCCs had a tumor-to-liver standardized uptake value (SUV) ratio < or =1.15, a k (4) / k (3) ratio similar to that in hepatic tissues and were well-differentiated. Four HCCs had a tumor-to-liver SUV ratio >1.15, a lower k (4) / k (3) ratio than the hepatic tissues and were moderately differentiated.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased FDG uptake was observed in HCCs that were the least differentiated and correlated with a lower k (4) / k (3) ratio.
Salem
Nicolas
N
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
MacLennan
Gregory T
GT
Kuang
Yu
Y
Anderson
Paul W
PW
Schomisch
Steve J
SJ
Tochkov
Ilia A
IA
Tennant
Bud C
BC
Lee
Zhenghong
Z
D000818:Animals; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D017919:Hepatitis B Virus, Woodchuck / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D008392:Marmota; D015233:Models, Statistical; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18