Positron Emission Tomography Techniques in Oncology
Summary
Positron emission tomography (PET) has become an indispensable tool in oncological imaging, offering both anatomical localisation and functional assessment of malignant tissues. By administering radiotracers—most commonly fluorine-18-labelled fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG)—clinicians obtain images that reflect glucose metabolism, perfusion and receptor expression in tumours. Whereas conventional static PET acquisitions yield standard uptake values (SUVs) at a single time point post injection, dynamic PET protocols record time–activity data across multiple frames, enabling quantitative kinetic analysis. Such approaches employ compartmental models and graphical methods to derive parameters that more precisely characterise tracer delivery, cellular uptake rates and metabolic turnover. Advances in image reconstruction, including direct parametric techniques, have increased spatial resolution and reduced noise, facilitating whole-body multiparametric imaging. These technical refinements support improved diagnosis, staging, therapy planning and response assessment across a range of malignancies, from hepatocellular carcinoma to lymphoma, and promise broader clinical adoption through shorter protocols and non-invasive input‐function estimation.
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Positron Emission Tomography Techniques in Oncology publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in positron emission tomography techniques in oncology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Standard Uptake Value (SUV): Semiquantitative measure of tracer concentration in tissue normalised by injected dose and body weight.
Kinetic Modelling: Mathematical framework that describes tracer exchange between blood and tissue compartments to derive physiological rate constants.
Compartmental Model: A representation of biological systems using interconnected compartments, each describing tracer kinetics in plasma or tissue subspaces.
Patlak Analysis: Graphical technique to linearise irreversible tracer uptake data and estimate the influx rate constant.
Arterial Input Function (AIF): Time–activity curve of tracer concentration in arterial blood, used as the reference input for kinetic quantification.
Multiparametric Imaging: Reconstruction of voxelwise quantitative maps (for example metabolic rate and distribution volume) from dynamic PET data.
References
- Kinetic modeling and parametric imaging with dynamic PET for oncological applications: general considerations, current clinical applications, and future perspectives. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2020).
- Short-term PET-derived kinetic estimation for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma: a combination of the maximum-slope method and dual-input three-compartment model. Insights into Imaging (2023).
- Normal values for 18F-FDG uptake in organs and tissues measured by dynamic whole body multiparametric FDG PET in 126 patients. EJNMMI Research (2022).
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