title: Current clinical status of18F-FLT PET or PET/CT in digestive and abdominal organ oncology.
abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) or PET/computed tomography (CT) using18F-3'-fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine (18F-FLT) offers noninvasive assessment of cell proliferation in human cancers in vivo. The present review discusses the current status on clinical applications of18F-FLT-PET (or PET/CT) in digestive and abdominal oncology by comparing with18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG)-PET (or PET/CT). The results of this review show that although18F-FLT uptake is lower in most cases of digestive and abdominal malignancies compared with18F-FDG uptake,18F-FLT-PET can be used to detect primary tumors.18F-FLT-PET has shown greater specificity for N staging than18F-FDG-PET which can show false-positive uptake in areas of inflammation. However, because of the high background uptake in the liver and bone marrow, it has a limited role of assessing liver and bone metastases. Instead,18F-FLT-PET will be a powerful tool for monitoring response to treatment and provide prognostic information in digestive and abdominal oncology.
authors: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8544, Japan. toyo.nakajo@dolphin.ocn.ne.jp.|Department of Radiology, Nanpuh Hospital, 14-3 Nagata, Kagoshima, 892-8512, Japan. toyo.nakajo@dolphin.ocn.ne.jp.
authors: Masatoyo
authors: M
authors: Nakajo
authors: Department of Radiology, Nanpuh Hospital, 14-3 Nagata, Kagoshima, 892-8512, Japan.
authors: Yoriko
authors: Y
authors: Kajiya
authors: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8544, Japan.
authors: Megumi
authors: M
authors: Jinguji
authors: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8544, Japan.
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Nakabeppu
authors: Department of Radiology, Nanpuh Hospital, 14-3 Nagata, Kagoshima, 892-8512, Japan.
authors: Masayuki
authors: M
authors: Nakajo
authors: Department of Gastroentenology, Nanpuh Hospital, 14-3 Nagata, Kagoshima, 892-8512, Japan.
authors: Tohru
authors: T
authors: Nihara
authors: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8544, Japan.
authors: Takashi
authors: T
authors: Yoshiura
mesh_terms: D015224:Dideoxynucleosides; D004067:Digestive System Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015224:Dideoxynucleosides; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C002854:alovudine
keywords: 18F-FDG; 18F-FLT; Abdominal oncology; PET; PET/CT