Head-to-head comparison of [(68)Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 and [(18)F]-FDG PET/CT in evaluating the extent of disease in gastric adenocarcinoma.

[18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) may sometimes be suboptimal for imaging gastric adenocarcinoma. The recently introduced [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 (FAPI) PET/CT targets tumor stroma and has shown considerable potential in evaluating the extent of disease in a variety of tumors. We performed a head-to-head prospective comparison of FAPI and FDG PET/CT in the same group of 13 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who presented for either initial staging (n = 10) or restaging (n = 3) of disease. Lesion detection and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) were compared between the two types of radiotracers. All ten primary gastric tumors were FAPI-positive (100% detection rate), whereas only five were also FDG-positive (50%). SUVmax was not significantly different, but the tumor-to-background ratio was higher for FAPI (mean, median, and range of 4.5, 3.2, and 0.8-9.7 for FDG and 12.9, 11.9, and 2.2-23.9 for FAPI, P = 0.007). The level of detection of regional lymph node involvement was comparable. FAPI showed a superior detection rate for peritoneal carcinomatosis (100% vs. none). Two patients with widespread peritoneal carcinomatosis underwent a follow-up FAPI scan after chemotherapy: one showed partial remission and the other showed progressive disease. The findings of this pilot study suggest that FAPI PET/CT outperforms FDG PET/CT in detecting both primary gastric adenocarcinoma and peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer. FAPI PET/CT also shows promise for monitoring response to treatment in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer; however, larger trials are needed to validate these preliminary findings.

Kuten J ，Levine C ，Shamni O ，Pelles S ，Wolf I ，Lahat G ，Mishani E ，Even-Sapir E ... -  《-》

[(68)Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in the evaluation of gastric cancer: comparison with [(18)F]FDG PET/CT.

This study aimed to compare the performance of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 and [18F]FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of primary and metastatic lesions of gastric cancer. Fifty-six patients with histologically proven gastric carcinomas were enrolled in this study, including 45 patients for staging and 11 patients for restaging after surgery. Each patient underwent both [18F]FDG and [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT within 1 week. The activity of tracer accumulation in lesions was assessed by maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and TBR (lesions SUVmax/ascending aorta SUVmean). Histological workup served as a standard of reference. If tissue diagnosis was not applicable, the follow-up data including the results of laboratory tests and medical imaging could also serve as a reference. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT was comparable to [18F]FDG on detecting primary tumors and lymph node (LN) metastases, whereas [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 outperformed [18F]FDG in detecting peritoneal (159 vs. 47, P < 0.001) and bone metastases (64 vs. 55, P = 0.003) by the lesion-based analysis. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 showed higher SUVmax (10.3 vs. 8.1, P = 0.004) and TBR (11.6 vs. 5.8, P < 0.001) in primary tumor, and higher TBR in LN involvement (8.0 vs. 3.7, P < 0.001) and peritoneal metastases (8.1 vs. 3.2, P < 0.001), compared with [18F]FDG PET/CT. The specificity and positive predictive value of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 were significantly higher than that of [18F]FDG (100.0% vs. 97.7%, P < 0.001; 100.0% vs. 57.1%, P = 0.001) in determining the LN status. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 was comparable to [18F]FDG in evaluating N-staging (47.1% vs. 23.5%, P = 0.282). [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT detected more positive recurrent lesions in all restaging patients and showed clearer tumor delineation. Two patients underwent follow-up [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT scans after chemotherapy, which both showed remission. [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT can better evaluate primary gastric cancer and metastatic lesions in the peritoneum, abdominal LNs, and bone. Furthermore, [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT provided more information for patients with recurrent disease and had the potential in monitoring response to treatment.

Lin R ，Lin Z ，Chen Z ，Zheng S ，Zhang J ，Zang J ，Miao W ... -  《-》

Superiority of [(68)Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[(18)F]FAPI-42 PET/CT to [(18)F]FDG PET/CT in delineating the primary tumor and peritoneal metastasis in initial gastric cancer.

This study aimed to compare [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT with [18F]FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of initial gastric cancer. We retrospectively compared [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT with [18F]FDG PET/CT in patients with initial gastric cancer from September 2020 to March 2021. Lesion detectability and the uptake of lesions quantified by the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and target-to-background ratio (TBR) were compared between the two modalities using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Mann-Whitney U test, and McNemar's chi-square test. A total of 61 patients (37 males, aged 23-81 years) were included, of which 22 underwent radical gastrectomy. For primary lesions, higher uptake of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 was observed compared to [18F]FDG (median SUVmax, 14.60 vs 4.35, p < 0.001), resulting in higher positive detection using [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT than [18F]FDG PET/CT (95.1% vs 73.8%, p < 0.001), particularly for tumors with signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) (96.4% vs 57.1%, p < 0.001). [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT detected more positive lymph nodes than [18F]FDG PET/CT (637 vs 407). However, both modalities underestimated N staging compared to pathological N staging. [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT showed a higher sensitivity (92.3% vs 53.8%, p = 0.002) and peritoneal cancer index score (18 vs 3, p < 0.001) in peritoneum metastasis and other suspect metastases compared to [18F]FDG PET/CT. Our findings indicate that [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT outperformed [18F]FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of primary tumors with SRCC and peritoneum metastasis in initial gastric cancer. However, no clinically useful improvement was seen in N staging. • The uptake of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 in primary tumor and metastasis was intensely higher than that of [18F]FDG (p < 0.001) in 61 patients with initial gastric cancer. • [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT had a higher sensitivity detection in primary tumors (95.1% vs 73.8%, p < 0.001) and peritoneal metastases (92.3% vs 53.8%, p = 0.002) than [18F]FDG PET/CT. • [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04/[18F]FAPI-42 PET/CT depicted more positive lymph nodes than [18F]FDG PET/CT (637 vs 407); however, both underestimated N staging compared to pathological N staging.

Fu L ，Huang S ，Wu H ，Dong Y ，Xie F ，Wu R ，Zhou K ，Tang G ，Zhou W ... -  《-》

Role of [(68)Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in the evaluation of peritoneal carcinomatosis and comparison with [(18)F]-FDG PET/CT.

Zhao L ，Pang Y ，Luo Z ，Fu K ，Yang T ，Zhao L ，Sun L ，Wu H ，Lin Q ，Chen H ... -  《-》

Usefulness of [(68)Ga]FAPI-04 and [(18)F]FDG PET/CT for the detection of primary tumour and metastatic lesions in gastrointestinal carcinoma: a comparative study.

To assess and compare the diagnostic performance of gallium-68-labelled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor ([68Ga]FAPI-04) and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in gastrointestinal cancer. Fifty-one patients who underwent both [18F]FDG and [68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT for initial staging or restaging were enrolled. Histopathological findings, typical radiological appearances, and clinical imaging follow-up were used as the reference standard. The diagnostic performance of the two tracers was calculated and compared. The maximum standardised uptake value (SUVmax), mean SUV (SUVmean), tumour-to-mediastinal blood pool ratio (TBR), and tumour-to-liver ratio (TLR) of primary and metastatic lesions were measured and compared between two imaging modalities. In patient-based analysis, [68Ga]FAPI-04 showed much better diagnostic sensitivity than [18F]FDG in detecting primary tumour (94.44% [17/18] vs. 61.11% [11/18]), postoperative recurrence and metastases (95.65% [22/23] vs. 69.57% [16/23]), and peritoneal carcinomatosis (100% [28/28] vs. 60.71% [17/28]) (all p < 0.05). In lesion-based analysis, [68Ga]FAPI-04 showed higher sensitivity than [18F]FDG for detecting lymph node metastases. In peritoneal carcinomatosis, the median SUVmax (12.12 vs. 7.18) and SUVmean (6.84 vs. 4.11) with [68Ga]FAPI-04 were significantly higher than those with [18F]FDG (all p < 0.005). The TBR and TLR of [68Ga]FAPI-04 were significantly higher than those of [18F]FDG for detecting primary tumour, lymph node, liver, and peritoneal metastases (all p < 0.005). Therapeutic management changed in 13 patients according to [68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT compared with conventional imaging. [68Ga]FAPI-04 is superior to [18F]FDG PET/CT for detecting primary tumour, postoperative recurrence and metastasis, and peritoneal carcinomatosis in gastrointestinal cancer. • [68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT showed significantly higher sensitivity than [18F]FDG PET/CT in the detection of primary tumour and postoperative recurrence and metastasis in patients with gastrointestinal carcinoma. • [68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT had obvious advantages over [18F]FDG PET/CT in the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastrointestinal carcinoma with a much higher FAPI uptake value, TBR, and TLR. • Although the median SUVmax and SUVmean of [68Ga]FAPI-04 were similar to those of [18F]FDG for the primary tumour, lymph node metastases, and liver metastases in gastrointestinal carcinoma, the TBR and TLR of the SUVmax and SUVmean were significantly higher on [68Ga]FAPI-04 PET/CT, causing the lesions to be displayed more clearly.

Li C ，Tian Y ，Chen J ，Jiang Y ，Xue Z ，Xing D ，Wen B ，He Y ... -  《-》