Emerging PET Radiotracer May Enhance Detection of Small Metastases in Patients with Advanced Melanoma

New research suggests that the melanin-targeted PET radiotracer (¹⁸F)DMPY2 may provide enhanced detection of small brain and liver metastases in patients with advanced melanoma.

For the comparative study, recently presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) conference, researchers reviewed positron emission tomography (PET) data for 26 patients with advanced melanoma. All patients had PET/CT scans with (¹⁸F)DMPY2 and (¹⁸F)FDG within a one-week interval, according to the study.

Preliminary study findings revealed that (¹⁸F)DMPY2 detected four brain metastases compared to one for (¹⁸F)FDG and provided a significantly higher SUVmax (14.28 vs. 0.68). The researchers noted that (¹⁸F)DMPY2 had higher sensitivity for liver metastases as well (100 percent vs. 83 percent) and a higher SUV max (10.65 vs. 4.76).

“(¹⁸F)DMPY2 PET/CT demonstrates superior diagnostic performance compared with (¹⁸F)FDG PET/CT in advanced melanoma, particularly by improving the detection of small brain and liver metastases,” noted lead study author Yi Yang, PhD, who is affiliated with Xiangya Hospital and Central South University in Changsha, China, and colleagues.

(Editor’s note: For additional coverage of the SNMMI conference, click here.)

The study authors also found that (¹⁸F)DMPY2 detected more metastatic foci than (¹⁸F)FDG in the brain (13 vs. 1) and liver (41 vs. 35).

“These findings support the potential role of [¹⁸F]DMPY2 as a valuable imaging agent for accurately staging and comprehensively assessing metastatic burden in patients with advanced melanoma,” posited Yang and colleagues.

Reference

1. Yang Y, Zhou M, Zhao S, Su J, Chen X, Hu S. Diagnostic performance of melanin-targeted (18F)DMPY2 PET/CT in advanced melanoma with emphasis on brain and liver metastases: a comparative study with (18F)FDG. J Nuc Med. 2026;67(suppl 1) 261890. Available at: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/67/supplement_1/261890 . Presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) conference, May 30-June 2, 2026, Los Angeles.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “SNMMI: NIH Researcher Discusses Potential of 18F-Fluciclovine for Multiple Myeloma Detection,” “SNMMI: AI May Enhance Detection and Risk Assessment for Multiple Cancers on Whole-Body PET/CT Scans” and “PET Imaging Identifies Efficacy of New Brain Metastasis Treatments.”)