Simultaneous 18F-fluciclovine Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging of Prostate Cancer

Morteza Esmaeili; Nassim Tayari; Tom Scheenen; Mattijs Elschot; Elise Sandsmark; Helena Bertilsson; Arend Heerschap; Kirsten M Selnæs; Tone F Bathen

doi:10.3389/fonc.2018.00516

Simultaneous ¹⁸F-fluciclovine Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging of Prostate Cancer

Front Oncol. 2018 Nov 15:8:516. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2018.00516. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Deparment of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
² Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
³ Department of Surgery, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
⁵ Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the associations of metabolite levels derived from magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and ¹⁸F-fluciclovine positron emission tomography (PET) with prostate tissue characteristics. Methods: In a cohort of 19 high-risk prostate cancer patients that underwent simultaneous PET/MRI, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of MRSI and PET for discrimination of aggressive cancer lesions from healthy tissue and benign lesions. Data analysis comprised calculations of correlations of mean standardized uptake values (SUV_mean), maximum SUV (SUV_max), and the MRSI-derived ratio of (total choline + spermine + creatine) to citrate (CSC/C). Whole-mount histopathology was used as gold standard. Results: The results showed a moderate significant correlation between both SUVmean and SUVmax with CSC/C ratio. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the simultaneous acquisition of ¹⁸F-fluciclovine PET and MRSI with an integrated PET/MRI system is feasible and a combination of these imaging modalities has potential to improve the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of prostate cancer lesions.

Keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia; chemical shift imaging; citrate; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; positron emission tomography; prostate cancer.