Comparison of Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/CT in evaluating patients with initial gastric cancer / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare Al 18F-1, 4, 7-trizacyclononane-1, 4, 7-triacetic acid (NOTA)-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI)-04 PET/CT with 18F-FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of patients with initial gastric cancer. Methods:Twenty patients (13 males, 7 females, age 27-77 years) with histologically proven gastric cancer were recruited prospectively between March 2021 and July 2022 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Each patient underwent both 18F-FDG and Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT within one week. SUV max, tumor background ratio (TBR) and positive detection rate of the two methods were compared (Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, McNemar χ2 test). Results:Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 showed higher SUV max and TBR than those of 18F-FDG in primary tumors (10.2(8.0, 13.7) vs 5.2(3.3, 7.7), z=-3.47, P=0.001; 7.6(5.6, 10.3) vs 2.4(1.8, 3.0), z=-3.85, P<0.001). For the detection of primary gastric cancer, the positive detection rate of Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT showed the trend of being higher than that of 18F-FDG PET/CT (95%(19/20) and 75%(15/20); χ2=2.25, P=0.125). For assessing lymph node metastasis, the detection rate of Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was higher than that of 18F-FDG PET/CT (78.9%(101/128) vs 64.8%(83/128); χ2=13.47, P<0.001). The SUV max and TBR of Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 in lymph node were higher than those of 18F-FDG (5.3(3.5, 9.2) vs 2.8(1.8, 4.7), z=-7.31, P<0.001; 4.6(2.6, 6.5) vs 1.7(1.0, 3.0), z=-8.44, P<0.001). For the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis, Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT showed higher peritoneal cancer index (PCI), SUV max, and TBR compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT (PCI 12.0(3.0, 29.8) vs 5.5(0.5, 17.5), z=-2.22, P=0.026; SUV max 8.2(4.4, 12.5) vs 2.7(1.9, 4.0); z=-2.52, P=0.012; TBR 5.1(2.9, 13.3) vs 1.1(0.9, 2.0); z=-2.52, P=0.012). Conclusion:Al 18F-NOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperforms 18F-FDG PET/CT in primary and metastatic lesions of gastric cancer and might be a potential novel modality for imaging patients with gastric cancer.