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

Marc H.A. Jansen, Reina W. Kloet, Dannis G. van Vuurden, Sophie E.M.Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Birgit I. Witte, Serge Goldman, W. Peter Vandertop, Emile F.I. Comans, Otto S. Hoekstra, Ronald Boellaard, Gert Jan J.L. Kaspers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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 (SUVrp/c) and the pons/occipital lobe (SUVrp/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 SUVrp/c and SUVrp/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 SUVrp/c and SUVrp/o were 0.74 (±0.20) and 0.65 (±0.30), respectively, while mean SUVrp(max)/c and SUVrp(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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalEJNMMI Research
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

Keywords

  • Brain neoplasms
  • Pons
  • Pontine glioma
  • Positron emission tomography
  • Reference values

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