While cross-sectional imaging with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging is the primary method for diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), they provide little biological insight into this molecularly heterogeneous disease. Nuclear imaging tools that can detect molecular subsets of tumors could greatly improve diagnosis and management of HCC. To this end, we conducted a patient study to determine whether HCC can be resolved using 68Ga-citrate positron emission tomography (PET). One patient with recurrent HCC was injected with 300 MBq of 68Ga-citrate and imaged with PET/CT 249 minutes post injection. Four (28%) of 14 hepatic lesions were avid for 68Ga-citrate. One extrahepatic lesion was not PET avid. The average maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) for the lesions was 7.2 (range: 6.2-8.4), while the SUVmax of the normal liver parenchyma was 4.7 and blood pool was 5.7. The avid lesions were not significantly larger than the quiescent lesions, and a prior contrast CT showed uniform enhancement among the lesions, suggesting that tumor signals are due to specific binding of the radiotracer to the transferrin receptor, rather than enhanced vascularity in the tumor microenvironment. Further studies are required in a larger patient cohort to verify the molecular basis of radiotracer uptake and the clinical utility of this tool.

中文翻译：

---

用68Ga柠檬酸PET成像肝细胞癌：首次临床经验。

尽管使用计算机断层扫描（CT）和磁共振成像进行断层成像是诊断肝细胞癌（HCC）的主要方法，但它们对这种分子异质性疾病的生物学了解甚少。可以检测肿瘤分子子集的核成像工具可以大大改善肝癌的诊断和管理。为此，我们进行了一项患者研究，以确定是否可以使用68Ga柠檬酸正电子发射断层扫描（PET）来解决HCC。一名患有复发性HCC的患者注射了300 MBq的68Ga柠檬酸盐，并在注射后249分钟用PET / CT成像。14例肝病灶中有4例（28％）的柠檬酸68Ga阳性。一种肝外病变不是PET狂热。病变的平均最大标准摄取值（SUVmax）为7.2（范围：6.2-8.4），正常肝实质的SUVmax为4.7，血池为5.7。狂热的病变并不比静止的病变明显大，并且先前的CT扫描显示病变之间均匀地增强，这表明肿瘤信号是由于放射性示踪剂与转铁蛋白受体的特异性结合，而不是肿瘤微环境中血管的增强。需要在更大的患者队列中进行进一步研究，以验证放射性示踪剂摄取的分子基础和该工具的临床实用性。而不是增强肿瘤微环境中的血管。需要在更大的患者队列中进行进一步的研究，以验证放射性示踪剂摄取的分子基础和该工具的临床实用性。而不是增强肿瘤微环境中的血管。需要在更大的患者队列中进行进一步的研究，以验证放射性示踪剂摄取的分子基础和该工具的临床实用性。