18 F-FDG PET standard uptake values of the normal pons in children: establishing a reference value for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma

• Published in: EJNMMI research 2014-01, Vol.4 (1), p.8-8
• Main Authors: Jansen, Marc H A, Kloet, Reina W, van Vuurden, Dannis G, van Zanten, Sophie EM Veldhuijzen, Witte, Birgit I, Goldman, Serge, Vandertop, W Peter, Comans, Emile FI, Hoekstra, Otto S, Boellaard, Ronald, Kaspers, Gert-Jan JL
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiac Imaging; Imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Original Research; Orthopedics; Radiology
• ISSN: 2191-219X; 2191-219X
• DOI: 10.1186/2191-219X-4-8

Background Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning with [ 18  F]fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18  F-FDG) is a useful diagnostic and prediction tool in brain tumors, but its value in childhood diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is still unclear. For interpretation of 18  F-FDG PET results in DIPG, uptake values of the normal pons of children of increasing ages are mandatory. The aim of this study was to determine 18  F-FDG standard uptake value ratios (SUVr) of the normal pons and to compare these to those of DIPG. Methods We studied 36 subjects with a normal, non-affected pons (aged 5 to 23 years) and 6 patients with DIPG (aged 4 to 17 years) who underwent 18  F-FDG PET scanning. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was co-registered to define the regions of interest. SUVr and SUVrmax for the pons/cerebellum (SUVr p/c ) and the pons/occipital lobe (SUVr p/o ) were calculated. Independent-samples t tests and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to compare the mean SUVr and Pearson’s test for correlations. Results For the normal pons, mean SUVr p/c and SUVr p/o were 0.65 (±0.054) and 0.51 (±0.056), respectively. No significant correlations were found between the SUVr of the normal pons and sex, age, nor pontine volume. A modest but statistically significant correlation was found between SUVr and post-injection time acquisition timing. For DIPG, mean SUVr p/c and SUVr p/o were 0.74 (±0.20) and 0.65 (±0.30), respectively, while mean SUVr p(max)/c and SUVr p(max)/o were 1.95 (±0.48) and 1.81 (±0.20), respectively. Conclusion The SUVr of the unaffected pons are strikingly constant between children, irrespective of sex and age, and can therefore be well used as a reference value for 18  F-FDG PET studies in DIPG.