Amino acid PET is accurate in differential diagnosis of recurrent brain metastases: Study

Germany: Amino acid PET has good accuracy in the differential diagnosis of recurrent brain metastases, a recently published meta-analysis in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine has shown. 

A specificity of 84% indicates that amino acid PET may reduce the number of invasive procedures and overtreatment in patients with treatment-related changes. This study provides class IIa evidence on using amino acid PET in the differential diagnosis of recurrent brain metastases.

Brain metastases occur in 20 to 40 percent of all cancer patients. They are most likely to occur in those with lung, breast and renal cancer, melanoma, and gastrointestinal tract cancers. Management of patients with brain metastases usually includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Some patients develop treatment-related changes such as radiation necrosis or pseudoprogression.

“A differentiation between recurrent or progressive brain metastases and treatment-related changes is challenging,” said Igor Yakushev, senior physician in the nuclear medicine department at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. “As the management of patients with recurrent or progressive brain metastases and treatment-related changes is fairly different, accurate and early differential diagnosis is essential.”