Feasibility of perfusion and early-uptake 18 F-FDG PET/CT in primary hepatocellular carcinoma: a dual-input dual-compartment uptake model

Purpose PET enables a concurrent evaluation of perfusion status and metabolic activity. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of perfusion and early-uptake 18 F-FDG PET/CT in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a dual-input dual-compartment uptake model. Materials and methods Data from 5 min dynamic PET/CT and conventional PET/CT scans were retrospectively collected from 17 pathologically diagnosed HCCs. Parameters such as hepatic arterial blood flow ( Fa ), portal vein blood flow ( Fv ), total blood flow ( F ), hepatic arterial perfusion index ( HPI ), portal vein perfusion index ( PPI ), blood volume ( BV ), extracellular mean transit time ( MTT ) and intracellular uptake rate ( Ki ) were calculated. Fa , HPI , MTT and Ki images were generated and used to identify HCC. Results Compared with the surrounding liver tissue, HCCs showed significant increases in Fa , HPI , Ki and the maximum standard uptake value ( SUVmax ) (all P < 0.001) and significant reductions in Fv ( P < 0.05) and PPI ( P < 0.001). F , BV and MTT (all P > 0.05) did not differ significantly between HCCs and the surrounding liver tissue. Perfusion and early-uptake PET/CT increased the positivity rate of HCCs from 52.9% with conventional PET/CT alone to 88.2% with the combined method ( P < 0.05). Conclusions Perfusion and early-uptake PET/CT are feasible for diagnosing HCC and provide added functional information to enhance diagnostic performance.