A Report on Health Resource Use in Internal Radiation Therapy with Radium Chloride (223Ra) (2nd Survey).

Internal radiation therapy using radium (223Ra) chloride injection (223Ra injection) is already being applied in actual clinical practice, however the NHI medical technical fee for the use of 223Ra injection has not yet been set. The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine surveyed health resource use for internal radiation therapy using 223Ra via questionnaires sent to medical institutions that have used 223Ra injection. Results showed that the necessary cost per patient is 1,005,567 JPY, based on the Draft Proposal for Medical Examination Value (Ver. 7.1) of the Japanese Health Insurance Federation for Surgery. 223Ra injection is supposed to be administered 6 times to each patient at 4-week intervals, and the fee per treatment was calculated to be 167,595 JPY. The appropriate NHI medical technical fee is thus considered to be 16,759 points per patient per treatment, which can be claimed 6 times per patient.

Quantitative (19)F imaging of nmol-level F-nucleotides/-sides from 5-FU with T(2) mapping in mice at 9.4T.

A unique acquisition method is proposed for quantitative, high-sensitivity (19)F MR spectroscopic imaging for the study of drug distribution aiming at nmol-level metabolite information in mice. The use of fast spin echo (FSE) at 9.4T allowed us to obtain whole-body images with minimal effect of magnetic susceptibility and to acquire several metabolite signals simultaneously by the method of interleaved multifrequency selection. Modified 2-shot FSE was designed for simultaneous, high-sensitivity (19)F imaging and T(2) mapping. A time course study including all the main metabolites at 10-minute resolution was attained with an oral dose of 1-2 mmol 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (130-260 mg)/kg in mice. With acquisition parameters optimized for in vivo T(2) of 40 ms, images of F-nucleotides/-sides, effective anabolites of the anticancer drug 5-FU, were obtained at the level of 200 nmol in the tumor for all the mice studied with a linear correlation (R = 0.96) between image intensity and the quantity determined in the excised tissue. The method exhibits potential capability of molecular imaging with a variety of (19)F-labeled compounds and drug evaluation.

[Metabolism of 18F-FDG (2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose) in tumor cells].

Tumor cell components obtained at 5 min, 1 hr and 3 hr after 18F-FDG injections were analyzed by radio-TLC. Major metabolites were 18F-FDG-phosphate and 18F-FDM-phosphate. 18F-FDM and three unidentified compounds were found as minor metabolites. Time course of the composition of metabolites are as follows; 18F-FDG-phosphate was 88% at 5 min after injection, but decreased to 53% at 3 hr after. 18F-FDM-phosphate was increased to 38% at 3 hr after injection. In conclusion, 18F-FDG is promptly phosphorylated after transportation into cell, and then exists as 18F-FDG-phosphate or 18F-FDM-phosphate. These results support known FDG distribution and metabolism, and it is possible that we use the information accumulated until now employing FDG manufactured by commercial supply system.