
Amino acid PET successfully differentiated recurrent brain metastases,
Reston, VA—A recently published meta-analysis demonstrated that amino acid PET can accurately differentiate recurrent or progressive brain metastases from treatment-related changes. A specificity of 84 percent indicates that it can reduce the number of invasive procedures and over-medication in patients who are actually experiencing treatment-related changes. This research was published in the May issue Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Credit: Image by Timo Schlürmann, resident at the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Technical University Munich, Germany.
Reston, VA—A recently published meta-analysis demonstrated that amino acid PET can accurately differentiate recurrent or progressive brain metastases from treatment-related changes. A specificity of 84 percent indicates that it can reduce the number of invasive procedures and over-medication in patients who are actually experiencing treatment-related changes. This research was published in the May issue Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Brain metastases occur in 20 to 40 percent of all cancer patients and are most likely to occur in those with lung, breast and kidney cancer, melanoma, and gastrointestinal cancer. Management of patients with brain metastases usually includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Some patients develop treatment-related changes such as radiation necrosis or pseudoprogression.
“Distinguishing between recurrent or progressive brain metastases and treatment-related changes is a challenge,” said Igor Yakushev, senior physician in the department of nuclear medicine at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. “Because the management of patients with recurrent or progressive brain metastases and treatment-related changes is quite different, accurate and early differential diagnosis is essential.”
The meta-analysis included 12 studies with the amino acid PET radiotracer. The study included a total of 397 patients with 547 lesions. Overall, 269 lesions (49 percent) were found to be recurrent or progressive brain metastases. Using histological examination and/or radiological and clinical follow-up as a reference, the sensitivity and specificity pools of amino acid PET were found to be 82 and 84 percent, respectively.
“This study provides class IIa evidence of the diagnostic utility of amino acid PET in the differential diagnosis of recurrent or progressive brain metastases,” said Yakushev. “These findings are in line with the increasing role of molecular imaging in the management of patients with brain tumors, but the results also point to the potential for further increasing diagnostic accuracy.”
the writers”Diagnostic utility of amino acid PET in the differential diagnosis of recurrent brain metastases and treatment-related changes: a meta-analysisincluding Timo Schlürmann, Wolfgang Weber, and Igor Yakushev, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Germany; Birgit Waschulzik, Institute of AI and Informatics in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Germany; Stephanie Combs, Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Radiation Medicine (IRM), Department of Radiation Science (DRS), Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), Oberschleißheim, Germany, German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), Partner Site; Jens Gempt, Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Germany; and Benedikt Wiestler, Department of Neuroradiology, Faculty of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Germany.
Visit JNN website for the latest research, and stay up to date with what’s new Twitter And Facebook page @JournalofNucMed or follow us on LinkedIn.
###
Please visit SNMMI Media Center for more information on molecular imaging and precision imaging. To schedule an interview with the researcher, please contact Rebecca Maxey at (703) 652-6772 or (email protected).
About JNM and the Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Society
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) is the world’s leading nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and theranostics journal, accessed 15 million times annually by practitioners worldwide, providing them with the information they need to move this rapidly evolving field forward. Current and past issues of Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.
JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to each patient to achieve the best possible outcome. For more information, visit www.snmmi.org.
Journal
Journal of Nuclear Medicine
DOI
10.2967/jnumed.122.264803
Article title
Utility of Amino Acid PET in the Differential Diagnosis of Recurrent Brain Metastases and Treatment-Related Changes: A Meta-analysis
Article Publication Date
1-May-2023
COI statement
Igor Yakushev has received consulting or tuition fees from ABX-CRO, Blue Earth Diagnostics, and Piramal, as well as grants from Germany’s Alzheimer Research Initiative, the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research Germany (BMBF).