PURPOSE: Positron emission tomography (PET) has gained widespread use in cancer diagnosis and treatment, but how many malignant cells are required for a tumour to be detected by PET? METHODS: Three human cancer cell lines [glioblastoma and two subtypes of small cell lung cancer (SCLC)] in concentrations from 10(4) to 10(7) were seeded on six-well plates or plastic tubes and treated with [(18)F]fluorodeoxy-glucose (FDG) in vitro. FDG retention was measured in a PET/CT scanner and in a calibrated well counter. The clinical situation was simulated using a cylinder phantom with a background concentration of FDG. RESULTS: The theoretical detection limit was found to be around 10(5) malignant cells. In a cylinder phantom the detection limit was increased by a factor of 10. The FDG retention by the glioblastoma cell line was significantly higher than the activity of the SCLC cell line. FDG retention measured by PET and a gamma counter was closely correlated to the number of cells and a linear relationship was found. DISCUSSION: The detection limit of PET is in the magnitude of 10(5) to 10(6) malignant cells. The experimental set-up was robust and well suited as a platform for further investigations of factors influencing the detection limit of PET.
PURPOSE: Positron emission tomography (PET) has gained widespread use in cancer diagnosis and treatment, but how many malignant cells are required for a tumour to be detected by PET? METHODS: Three humancancer cell lines [glioblastoma and two subtypes of small cell lung cancer (SCLC)] in concentrations from 10(4) to 10(7) were seeded on six-well plates or plastic tubes and treated with [(18)F]fluorodeoxy-glucose (FDG) in vitro. FDG retention was measured in a PET/CT scanner and in a calibrated well counter. The clinical situation was simulated using a cylinder phantom with a background concentration of FDG. RESULTS: The theoretical detection limit was found to be around 10(5) malignant cells. In a cylinder phantom the detection limit was increased by a factor of 10. The FDG retention by the glioblastoma cell line was significantly higher than the activity of the SCLC cell line. FDG retention measured by PET and a gamma counter was closely correlated to the number of cells and a linear relationship was found. DISCUSSION: The detection limit of PET is in the magnitude of 10(5) to 10(6) malignant cells. The experimental set-up was robust and well suited as a platform for further investigations of factors influencing the detection limit of PET.
Authors: U Haberkorn; I Morr; F Oberdorfer; M E Bellemann; J Blatter; A Altmann; B Kahn; G van Kaick Journal: J Nucl Med Date: 1994-11 Impact factor: 10.057
Authors: Mai Johnson; Breanne D W Karanikolas; Saul J Priceman; Russell Powell; Margaret E Black; Hsiao-Ming Wu; Johannes Czernin; Sung-Cheng Huang; Lily Wu Journal: J Nucl Med Date: 2009-04-16 Impact factor: 10.057
Authors: Mathieu Hatt; John A Lee; Charles R Schmidtlein; Issam El Naqa; Curtis Caldwell; Elisabetta De Bernardi; Wei Lu; Shiva Das; Xavier Geets; Vincent Gregoire; Robert Jeraj; Michael P MacManus; Osama R Mawlawi; Ursula Nestle; Andrei B Pugachev; Heiko Schöder; Tony Shepherd; Emiliano Spezi; Dimitris Visvikis; Habib Zaidi; Assen S Kirov Journal: Med Phys Date: 2017-05-18 Impact factor: 4.071
Authors: Edward A Weinstein; Alvaro A Ordonez; Vincent P DeMarco; Allison M Murawski; Supriya Pokkali; Elizabeth M MacDonald; Mariah Klunk; Ronnie C Mease; Martin G Pomper; Sanjay K Jain Journal: Sci Transl Med Date: 2014-10-22 Impact factor: 17.956