The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) have issued guidelines for F-18 fluoroestradiol (FES) PET imaging of breast cancer.
The practice guidelines are intended to assist physicians in recommending, performing, interpreting, and reporting the results of tumor estrogen receptor (ER) F-18 FES-PET studies and were published January 5 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
“The availability of a standardized imaging procedure will help to promote the appropriate use of F-18 FES-PET and enhance subsequent research,” wrote lead author David Mankoff, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues.
Multiple studies suggest that F-18 FES-PET – which is approved for clinical use in France and the U.S. – offers advantages in assessing tumor ER expression, predicting response to ER-targeted therapies, and clarifying equivocal staging and restaging results in patients with ER-expressing cancers. It may also be helpful in staging invasive lobular breast cancer and low-grade ER-expressing invasive ductal cancers and, in some cases, may be a substitute for biopsy, SNMMI said, in a release.
The guidelines include information on common clinical indications, procedure specifications, patient selection and preparation, tracer administration and imaging, and imaging interpretation and reporting. It also presents standardized quality control, quality assurance, and imaging procedures for F-18 FES-PET, the SNMMI added.
A link to the guidelines can be found here.
