Detection of bronchioloalveolar cancer by means of PET/CT and 18F-fluorocholine, and comparison with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose.
OBJECTIVE
Bronchioloalveolar (BAC) cancer is a source of false-negative F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) results. A few studies reported better diagnostic performances with PET tracers of lipid metabolism, C-choline, or C-acetate, for the detection of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma or BAC. F-fluorocholine (FCH) is a lipid analogue for PET imaging, with advantages in terms of logistics and image resolution. We carried out this prospective pilot study to evaluate whether FCH PET/CT could detect lung cancer with a BAC component and could be more sensitive than FDG in this aim.


METHODS
Fifteen patients with a lung nodule or lesion suspected for BAC on CT and/or with a history of BAC had PET/CT 60-90 min after 5 MBq FDG/kg body mass and, on a separate day, 10-20 min after 4 MBq FCH/kg body mass. The standard of truth was histology and a 6-month follow-up.


RESULTS
Nine patients (12 lesions) presented BAC or adenocarcinoma with BAC features, two patients presented adenocarcinoma without BAC features (five lesions) and four patients presented benign lesions (15 non-malignant sites). For both FCH and FDG, patient-based sensitivity was 78% for detecting cancer with a BAC component and 82% for detecting malignancy. Site-based sensitivity for detecting malignancy was 76 and 75% for detecting cancer with BAC features, for both radiopharmaceuticals. Specificity was similar for FCH and FDG (site-based 93 vs. 81%, NS). In these early-stage cancers, only one adrenal metastasis was observed that took up FCH and FDG.


CONCLUSIONS
In this population of patients with ground-glass opacities selected on CT suggestive of BAC or with a history of BAC and a recent lung anomaly on CT, FCH detected all malignant lesions with at least a 2.0 cm short axis. However, FDG had similar performance.
Balogova
Sona
S
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hôpital Tenon AP-HP, Paris, France. sona.balogova@kapor.sk
Huchet
Virginie
V
Kerrou
Khaldoun
K
Nataf
Valerie
V
Gutman
Fabrice
F
Antoine
Martine
M
Ruppert
Anne-Marie
AM
Prignon
Aurélie
A
Lavolée
Armelle
A
Montravers
Francoise
F
Mayaud
Charles
C
Cadranel
Jacques
J
Talbot
Jean-Noël
JN
D002282:Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001692:Biological Transport; D002794:Choline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C514960:fluorocholine; D002794:Choline