ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the usefulness of 18F-FLT PET/CT imaging in detecting and staging nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.Methods Thirteen patients with NPC underwent wholebody 18F-FLT PET/CT imaging,one of which underwent whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging one day earlier.SUVmax and SUVmean from 18F-FLT and18F-FDG imaging were obtained using circular ROI in primary and metastasis lesions and were compared with the results of histopathology.The staging results by 18 F-FLT PET was compared with those by CT.Results The SUVmax and SUVmean obtained from 18F-FLT imaging in 22nasopharyngeal sites in 13 patients were 6.04 ±3.61 and 5.09 ±2.89,and the SUVmax and SUVmean in 26 lymphadenopathy were 5.56 ± 3.11 and 4.65 ± 2.79.18 F-FDG SUVmax were higher than 18 F-FLT SUVmax in one primary lesion ( 8.32 vs 4.38 ) and two lymph nodes (3.30 ± 0.07 vs 1.48 ± 0.06) in the patient who underwent the two imagings.Compared with CT staging results,the TNM stage in 3 patients had been changed based on 18 F-FLT PET/CT imaging.Conclusions High radioactivity of primary and second lesions can be detected on 18F-FLT imaging in patients with NPC and 18F-FLT PET/CT imaging may be useful in staging for NPC.