PET Imaging of Breast Cancer Using F-18 Labeled Choline Analogs

摘要

Mammography has proven effective for reducing mortality from breast cancer, however detection of some lesions is limited by dense breast tissue that obscures the tumor, and the specificity of mammography is low. Functional imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) may help improve detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, although, the diagnostic accuracy of primary breast tumors has been found to be hindered by low glycolytic rates, and nonspecific uptake by nonmalignant breast tissue. Imaging with fluorocholine (FCH) may help to overcome these limitations. An efficient and practical synthesis of FCH has been developed at our institution. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the potential utility of F-18 labeled choline (FCH) as a positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for detection and diagnosis of breast cancer in women with highly suspicious breast lesions. Our goals are to determine: (1) the correlation between FCH uptake in primary breast cancer tumors and the histologic tumor type from subsequent pathology; (2) how FCH uptake in breast cancer tumors compares to F-18 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose (FDG) (which is the current standard cancer imaging agent for PET) uptake in breast cancer tumors; and (3) if FCH can improve local staging of the breast in patients with recently diagnosed breast cancer (invasive or in situ).