Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of fluorine-18 (F)-5-fluorouracil (F-5-FU) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) to show differences in 5-FU activity in metastatic colorectal cancer before and after treatment with bevacizumab.This was a pilot study of five patients with newly diagnosed and untreated metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma. The presence of cancer was confirmed by histopathological analysis before enrollment. Patients underwent F-5-FU PET/CT scanning before treatment and at approximately 24 h postbevacizumab. PET/CT scanning consisted of a dynamic acquisition of images taken 0-20 min after injection of radiotracer. The degree of F-5-FU activity at the metastatic sites was assessed using visual interpretation and semiquantitative standardized uptake value analyses.The sizes of the metastatic lesions ranged from the smallest lesion measuring 3.04 × 1.50 cm to the largest measuring 4.19 × 2.76 cm. By drawing regions of interest, time-activity curves were generated at each tumor site and area under the curve (AUC) analyses were carried out. At baseline, during the first 5 min after F-5-FU injection the mean AUCtumor/AUCaorta ratio was 1.24 ± 0.30 (range, 0.424-2.14). Less than 24 h after the administration of bevacizumab, the AUCtumor/AUCaorta ratio decreased to 1.06 ± 0.32 (range, 0.23-2.13, P=0.04), which represented an average decline of 20.2% (range, 0.4-45%). Radiotracer uptake on the 5, 10, 15, and 20-min images did not show any significant change between baseline and posttreatment. Follow-up CT imaging showed stable tumor size in one patient and a decrease in metastasis size in the remaining four patients.In this pilot study of five patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma, F-5-FU PET/CT scanning showed a significant perfusion-related decrease in tracer activity 24 h postbevacizumab.

View details for DOI 10.1097/MNM.0b013e328344894b

View details for PubMedID 21412178