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SUV95th as a Reliable Alternative to SUVmax for Determining Renal Uptake in [68Ga] PSMA PET/CT

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Abstract

Purpose

Widely used in clinical practice, the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) is a statistical index highly prone to physical and biological variations, which can lead to unpredictable errors. This study has a methodological aim: to identify a more robust SUV-based index representing the tracer accumulation. In particular, the new metric was tested to confirm the potential of mannitol to reduce renal uptake Ga-68 prostate-specific membrane antigen ([68Ga]PSMA).

Procedures

To this aim, our previously published work, proving the efficacy of mannitol, was considered as a background study. Renal SUVmax was calculated in nine patients undergoing [68Ga]PSMA positron emission tomography (PET)/X-ray computed tomography (CT) at baseline (b-PET/CT) and at follow-up after intravenous infusion of 500 ml of 10 % mannitol (m-PET/CT). SUV values of kidney volumes were extracted by a new 3D segmentation method. A new parameter, the median computed on the upper 10% of the SUV distribution (SUV95th), was introduced to better characterize the tracer accumulation. A comparison between SUVmax and SUV95th was also performed. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess the statistical significance of the differences in SUV95th between b-PET/CT and m-PET/CT.

Results

SUV95th not only confirmed the efficacy of mannitol as demonstrated in the previous study but improved the separability of b-PET/CT and m-PET/CT examinations, overturning SUVmax findings in two cases. The outcomes of the Kruskal-Wallis test computed for each kidney proved that differences between b-PET/CT and m-PET/CT SUV95th values were significant (p value < 0.001).

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that SUV95th is a more robust index to assess high uptake level, representing a reliable alternative to SUVmax. Independently from the segmentation method, the superiority of SUV95th and its easy computation could make its clinical impact decisive. The results obtained with SUV95th, more representative of tracer uptake than those with SUVmax suggest, in our opinion, that mannitol infusion could be used to reduce the adsorbed dose to the kidneys during [68Ga]PSMA PET/CT and Lu-177 or Ac-225 therapy. Our future goal will be confirming this effect in a larger cohort of patients, also verifying the role of SUV95th in the evaluation of tumor response to therapy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Filippo Piccinini for his help with data collection during the starting stage of this study.

Funding

This research was partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (grant RF-2016-02364230), and by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), (grant IG 20476).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Research Center for Electronic Systems (ARCES), University of Bologna, Via Toffano 2/2, 40125, Bologna, Italy

    Serena Baiocco & Alessandro Bevilacqua

  2. Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi” (DEI), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Serena Baiocco

  3. Nuclear Medicine Unit, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, Meldola, Italy

    Federica Matteucci, Paola Caroli & Giovanni Paganelli

  4. Medical Physics Unit, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, Meldola, Italy

    Emilio Mezzenga & Anna Sarnelli

  5. Oncology Pharmacy, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, Meldola, Italy

    Valentina Di Iorio

  6. Diagnostic Imaging Unit—Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine Department, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Corrado Cittanti

  7. Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandro Bevilacqua

Authors
  1. Serena Baiocco
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  2. Federica Matteucci
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  3. Emilio Mezzenga
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  4. Paola Caroli
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  5. Valentina Di Iorio
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  6. Corrado Cittanti
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  7. Alessandro Bevilacqua
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  8. Giovanni Paganelli
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  9. Anna Sarnelli
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Contributions

Study concept and design: AS, AB, SB.

Provision of study materials or patients: FM, AS, EM.

Collection and assembly of data: FM.

Radiopharmaceutical synthesis and quality control: VDI.

Diagnostic imaging: FM, PC.

Analysis and interpretation of data: SB, AB, AS.

Drafting of manuscript: SB.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: GP, AB, FM, AS.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro Bevilacqua.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Area Vasta Romagna and by the competent Italian regulatory authorities. The study was performed in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and Good Clinical Practice.

Informed Consent

All patients gave their written informed consent.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Baiocco, S., Matteucci, F., Mezzenga, E. et al. SUV95th as a Reliable Alternative to SUVmax for Determining Renal Uptake in [68Ga] PSMA PET/CT. Mol Imaging Biol 22, 1070–1077 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-019-01451-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-019-01451-1

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