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Biological tumour volumes of gliomas in early and standard 20–40 min 18F-FET PET images differ according to IDH mutation status

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A Correction to this article was published on 15 March 2018

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Abstract

Purpose

For the clinical evaluation of O-(2-18F-fluoroethyl)-l-tyrosine (18F-FET) PET images, the use of standard summation images obtained 20–40 min after injection is recommended. However, early summation images obtained 5–15 min after injection have been reported to allow better differentiation between low-grade glioma (LGG) and high-grade glioma (HGG) by capturing the early 18F-FET uptake peak specific for HGG. We compared early and standard summation images with regard to delineation of the PET-derived biological tumour volume (BTV) in correlation with the molecular genetic profile according the updated 2016 WHO classification.

Methods

The analysis included 245 patients with newly diagnosed, histologically verified glioma and a positive 18F-FET PET scan prior to any further treatment. BTVs were delineated during the early 5–15 min and standard 20–40 min time frames using a threshold of 1.6 × background activity and were compared intraindividually. Volume differences between early and late summation images of >20% were considered significant and were correlated with WHO grade and the molecular genetic profile (IDH mutation and 1p/19q codeletion status).

Results

In 52.2% of the patients (128/245), a significant difference in BTV of >20% between early and standard summation images was found. While 44.3% of WHO grade II gliomas (31 of 70) showed a significantly smaller BTV in the early summation images, 35.0% of WHO grade III gliomas (28/80) and 37.9% of WHO grade IV gliomas (36/95) had a significantly larger BTVs. Among IDH-wildtype gliomas, an even higher portion (44.4%, 67/151) showed significantly larger BTVs in the early summation images, which was observed in 5.3% (5/94) of IDH-mutant gliomas only: most of the latter had significantly smaller BTVs in the early summation images, i.e. 51.2% of IDH-mutant gliomas without 1p/19q codeletion (21/41) and 39.6% with 1p/19q codeletion (21/53).

Conclusion

BTVs delineated in early and standard summation images differed significantly in more than half of gliomas. While the standard summation images seem appropriate for delineation of LGG as well as IDH-mutant gliomas, a remarkably high percentage of HGG and, particularly, IDH-wildtype gliomas were depicted with significantly larger volumes in early summation images. This finding might be of interest for optimization of treatment planning (e.g. radiotherapy) in accordance with the individual IDH mutation status.

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Change history

  • 15 March 2018

    The name of M. Unterrainer was inadvertently presented as M. Unterrrainer in the original article.

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Acknowledgment

Parts of this paper originate from the doctoral thesis of Isabel Winkelmann.

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Author notes

  1. M. Unterrainer and I. Winkelmann contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    M. Unterrainer, I. Winkelmann, V. Wenter, P. Bartenstein & N. L. Albert

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    B. Suchorska, F. W. Kreth & J. C. Tonn

  3. Department of Neuropathology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    A. Giese & J. Herms

  4. German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Munich; and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany

    P. Bartenstein, J. C. Tonn & N. L. Albert

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  1. M. Unterrainer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. L. Albert.

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Ethical approval

Ethical approval of the retrospective study protocol was given by the institutional review board of the LMU (no. 606–16) in accordance with the ICH Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

All patients gave written informed consent prior to the PET examination.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: The name of M. Unterrainer was inadvertently presented as M. Unterrrainer in the original article.

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Unterrainer, M., Winkelmann, I., Suchorska, B. et al. Biological tumour volumes of gliomas in early and standard 20–40 min 18F-FET PET images differ according to IDH mutation status. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 45, 1242–1249 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-018-3969-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-018-3969-4

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