Comparing radioactive tracers 18F-FDG and 18F-FLTin the staging of diffuse large B-cell lymphomaby PET/CT examination: A single-center prospective study

BACKGROUND: Positron emission tomography in combination with computer tomography (PET/CT) is a very important method of imaging patients with non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). It is used to define the initial grade of the disease and to assess early response to treatment and after chemotherapy. The most commonly used radioactive tracer is 18F-FDG, but 18F-FLT seems to be more specific. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to compare the staging of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with PET/CT examination using 18F-FLT and 18F-FDG. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 33 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL (17 women and 16 men). The median age of the patients was 57 years. In each patient, 2 PET/CT examinations were performed before treatment, one using 18F-FLT and the second using 18F-FDG. RESULTS: The average maximum 18F-FDG uptake in the whole group of patients was higher than the average maximum of 18F-FLT. This was also true of individual patients; however, 3 patients with an aggressive disease course had greater FLT uptake than the other patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that PET/CT exams using 18F-FLT may be a useful diagnostic tool in patients with DLBCL.