3'-Deoxy-3'-18F-Fluoro-L-thymidine positron emission tomography for the non-invasive assessment of proliferation in gliomas

Introduction: 18F-Fluoro-L-thymidine (18F-FLT) has been established as a non-invasive marker for tumor proliferation by positron emission tomography (PET). It has been shown that the uptake of 18F-FLT might correlate to increased transport as well as to S-phase specific thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) activity (Jacobs et al. 2005). Aim of the study was to further characterize 18F-FLT as marker for tumor activity and proliferation in patients with newly diagnosed gliomas. Material and methods: 13 patients (age: from 35 to 71y) with newly diagnosed primary brain tumors underwent 18F-FLT- and 11C-MET-PET, as well as T1- a…