PET/CT, new radiotracers aid lung cancer diagnosis

Quantitative data and new radiotracers developed for PET/CT boost detection of lung cancer while reducing false positives, according to research presented at the RSNA meeting.

Dr. Kiyoshi Nishikawa and colleagues from the Miyazaki and Tsukuba universities in Japan assessed 93 patients with PET/CT. They measured average Hounsfield units and standardized uptake units in the region of interest around pulmonary abnormalities.

The team found the combined anatomic/functional quantitative assessments were clinically useful to detect malignancies, even if these lesions are missed or misinterpreted by the PET component.

Jamey Weichert, Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, Madison unveiled preliminary results with the new SPECT ligand iodine-131-labeled NM404 on six patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. They found patients tolerated NM404 well. They observed similar tumor uptake and retention properties in human NSCLC as previously seen in mice undergoing imaging with this agent. Studies are under way to extend NM404's utility to PET.