Feasibility of in situ, high-resolution correlation of tracer uptake with histopathology by quantitative autoradiography of biopsy specimens obtained under (18)F-FDG PET/CT guidance Journal Article


Authors: Fanchon, L. M.; Dogan, S.; Moreira, A. L.; Carlin, S.; Schmidtlein, C. R.; Yorke, E.; Apte, A. P.; Burger, I. A.; Durack, J. C.; Erinjeri, J. P.; Maybody, M.; Schöder, H.; Siegelbaum, R. H.; Sofocleous, C. T.; Deasy, J. O.; Solomon, S. B.; Humm, J. L.; Kirov, A. S.
Article Title: Feasibility of in situ, high-resolution correlation of tracer uptake with histopathology by quantitative autoradiography of biopsy specimens obtained under (18)F-FDG PET/CT guidance
Abstract: Core biopsies obtained using PET/CT guidance contain bound radiotracer and therefore provide information about tracer uptake in situ. Our goal was to develop a method for quantitative autoradiography of biopsy specimens (QABS), to use this method to correlate 18F-FDG tracer uptake in situ with histopathology findings, and to briefly discuss its potential application. Methods: Twenty-seven patients referred for a PET/CT-guided biopsy of 18F-FDG-avid primary or metastatic lesions in different locations consented to participate in this institutional review board-approved study, which complied with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Autoradiography of biopsy specimens obtained using 5 types of needles was performed immediately after extraction. The response of autoradiography imaging plates was calibrated using dummy specimens with known activity obtained using 2 core-biopsy needle sizes. The calibration curves were used to quantify the activity along biopsy specimens obtained with these 2 needles and to calculate the standardized uptake value, SUV<inf>ARG</inf>. Autoradiography images were correlated with histopathologic findings and fused with PET/CT images demonstrating the position of the biopsy needle within the lesion. Logistic regression analysis was performed to search for an SUV<inf>ARG</inf>threshold distinguishing benign from malignant tissue in liver biopsy specimens. Pearson correlation between SUV<inf>ARG</inf> of the whole biopsy specimen and average SUV<inf>PET</inf> over the voxels intersected by the needle in the fused PET/CT image was calculated. Results: Activity concentrations were obtained using autoradiography for 20 specimens extracted with 18- and 20-gauge needles. The probability of finding malignancy in a specimen is greater than 50% (95% confidence) if SUV<inf>ARG</inf> is greater than 7.3. For core specimens with preserved shape and orientation and in the absence of motion, one can achieve autoradiography, CT, and PET image registration with spatial accuracy better than 2 mm. The correlation coefficient between the mean specimen SUV<inf>ARG</inf> and SUV<inf>PET</inf> was 0.66. Conclusion: Performing QABS on core-biopsy specimens obtained using PET/CT guidance enables in situ correlation of 18F-FDG tracer uptake and histopathology on a millimeter scale. QABS promises to provide useful information for guiding interventional radiology procedures and localized therapies and for in situ high-spatial-resolution validation of radiopharmaceutical uptake. COPYRIGHT © 2015 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.
Keywords: histopathology; oncology; biopsy; autoradiography; pet/ct
Journal Title: Journal of Nuclear Medicine
Volume: 56
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0161-5505
Publisher: Society of Nuclear Medicine  
Date Published: 2015-04-01
Start Page: 538
End Page: 544
Language: English
DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.114.148668
PROVIDER: scopus
PUBMED: 25722446
PMCID: PMC4786005
DOI/URL:
Notes: Export Date: 4 May 2015 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Andre L Moreira
    176 Moreira
  2. Heiko Schoder
    543 Schoder
  3. Majid Maybody
    98 Maybody
  4. Snjezana Dogan
    187 Dogan
  5. Stephen Solomon
    422 Solomon
  6. Joseph Patrick Erinjeri
    200 Erinjeri
  7. Ellen D Yorke
    450 Yorke
  8. John Laurence Humm
    433 Humm
  9. Assen Kirov
    89 Kirov
  10. Joseph Owen Deasy
    524 Deasy
  11. Sean Denis Carlin
    83 Carlin
  12. Aditya Apte
    203 Apte
  13. Jeremy Charles Durack
    116 Durack
  14. Louise Marianne Fanchon
    14 Fanchon