Diagnostic performances of [ 18 F]fluorocholine positron emission tomography in brain tumors

BACKGROUND: Brain tumors characterization by molecular imaging that allows the depiction of brain lesions metabolic pattern is crucial. Our study aimed to: 1) to evaluate the diagnostic performances of [ 18 F]fluoroethylcholine positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([ 18 F]FECH PET/CT), and 2) correlate PET imaging derived parameters of [ 18 F]FECH to survival in brain tumors. METHODS: From 2009 to 2012, we enrolled 30 patients who underwent [ 18 F]FECH PET/CT. Final diagnosis was established by clinical and radiological follow-up. RESULTS: Final diagnosis was consistent with tumor disease in 27/30 cases. In 3/30 cases tumor disease was ruled out. [ 18 F]FECH PET/CT resulted true positive and negative in 21/30 and 9/30 patients, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of [ 18 F]FECH PET/CT were 78%, 100%, 100%, 33%, and 80%, respectively. Mean and maximum standardized uptake value (SUV mean and SUV max ) resulted statistically correlated to histology (P=0.0255 and P=0.0222, respectively). Using a SUV max cut-off of 2.0 or 3.2, we distinguished between low- and high-grade gliomas with a good specificity (70% and 80%, respectively). SUV max and histology resulted correlated to overall survival and disease related survival at multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results, worthy of further investigations, show high diagnostic performances of [ 18 F]FECH PET/CT, and a correlation between PET imaging derived parameters and survival.