UNLABELLED: The purpose of the study was to assess the feasibility of PET and L-[methyl-11C]methionine (11C-methionine) in the detection of malignant melanoma. METHODS: Ten patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma (two with primary melanoma and eight with metastatic melanoma of the skin) but had no liver metastases underwent a PET study before starting cancer therapy. Dynamic scanning was performed for 40 min in seven patients and 10-20 min in three patients 25-45 min postinjection. RESULTS: Carbon-11-methionine PET detected all melanoma lesions greater than 1.5 cm (n = 22) in diameter, whereas five smaller pulmonary lesions were not detected. The average standardized uptake value of the untreated lesions was 6.3 +/- 2.1 (n = 19) and the uptake rate (influx constant) was 0.085 +/- 0.041 min-1 (n = 16). CONCLUSION: PET imaging with 11C-methionine is an effective method for visualizing melanoma. It may also be useful in measuring tumor metabolic activity in vivo.
UNLABELLED: The purpose of the study was to assess the feasibility of PET and L-[methyl-11C]methionine (11C-methionine) in the detection of malignant melanoma. METHODS: Ten patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma (two with primary melanoma and eight with metastatic melanoma of the skin) but had no liver metastases underwent a PET study before starting cancer therapy. Dynamic scanning was performed for 40 min in seven patients and 10-20 min in three patients 25-45 min postinjection. RESULTS:Carbon-11-methionine PET detected all melanoma lesions greater than 1.5 cm (n = 22) in diameter, whereas five smaller pulmonary lesions were not detected. The average standardized uptake value of the untreated lesions was 6.3 +/- 2.1 (n = 19) and the uptake rate (influx constant) was 0.085 +/- 0.041 min-1 (n = 16). CONCLUSION: PET imaging with 11C-methionine is an effective method for visualizing melanoma. It may also be useful in measuring tumor metabolic activity in vivo.
Authors: Sebastian M Harris; James C Davis; Scott E Snyder; Elizabeth R Butch; Amy L Vavere; Mehmet Kocak; Barry L Shulkin Journal: J Nucl Med Date: 2013-09-19 Impact factor: 10.057