F-18-FLT PET for visualization of laryngeal cancer: Comparison with F-18-FDG PET

The feasibility of F-18-3'-fluoro-3'-deoxy-L-thymidine PET (FLT PET) for detecting laryngeal cancer was investigated and compared with F-18-FDG PET. Methods: Eleven patients diagnosed with or strongly suspected of having recurrent laryngeal cancer and 10 patients with histologically proven primary laryngeal cancer underwent attenuation-corrected F-18-FLT PET imaging 60 min after injection of a median of 213 MBq (range, 175-400 MBq) F-18-FLT and attenuation-corrected F-18-FDG PET imaging 90 min after injection of a median of 340 MBq (range, 165-650 MBq) F-18-FDG. All patients were staged by endoscopy and CT according to the Union Internationale Contre la Cancer TNM staging system. All patients underwent biopsy of the laryngeal area after imaging. Lesions seen on F-18-FDG PET and F-18-FLT PET were compared with histopathologic results. Mean SUVs, maximum SUVs, and tumor-to-nontumor (TNT) ratios were calculated for F-18-FLT and F-18-FDG. Wilcoxon nonparametric testing was used for comparison of F-18-FDG with F-18-FLT uptake. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to correlate mean SUVs, maximum SUVs, and TNT ratios of F-18-FDG PET and F-18-FLT PET. Two-tailed P value