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11C-Methionine

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Radiopharmaceuticals

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Abstract

Methionine (MET) is an essential α-amino acid which plays a role in several biochemical processes, such as biosynthesis of proteins.

L-Methionine labeled with 11C acts as a positron emission tomography tracer, as it is involved in synthesis of proteins in brain tumors.

Normal brain tissue recognizes only glucose as a metabolic substrate (thus having a very low physiological 11C-methionine uptake), whereas tumoral brain tissues present an increased 11C-methionine uptake. This makes the signal-to-noise ratio quite high, thus helping in reading and interpreting PET scans.

11C-Methionine PET is easy and fast to perform. Usually 370–740 MBq of tracer is injected intravenously and, because of the short half-life of 11C-labeled molecules (20 min), the uptake time ranges from only 10–30 min.

11C-Methionine PET is a useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool in neuro-oncology. It has a high sensitivity in identifying primary brain tumors (histologic grading, define the extent of tumor, identify optimal biopsy sites), metastases, recurrence, plan radiotherapy and response to therapy. Additionally it allows the study of myocardial infarction, hyperparathyroidism, squamous cell head and neck cancer, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma.

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Abbreviations

11C-CH3I:

Methyl iodide

11C-CH3OTf:

11C-Methyl triflate

11C-CO2:

Carbon dioxide

BBB:

Blood brain barrier

BTV:

Biological target volume

CT:

Computed tomography

FCD:

Focal cortical dysplasia

FLAIR:

Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery

GTV:

Gross tumor volume

HI:

Hydriodic acid

HNSCC:

Squamous cell head and neck cancer

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

L/N:

Lesion-to-normal

LAT:

L-type amino acid transporter

MET:

Methionine

MIBI:

99mTc-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile

MM:

Multiple myeloma

MR:

Magnetic resonance

NSCLC:

Non-small cell lung cancer

PA:

Parathyroid adenoma

PH:

Parathyroid hyperplasia

pHPT:

Primary hyperparathyroidism

PTH:

Parathyroid hormone

RANO:

Response assessment in neuro-oncology

SUV:

Standardized uptake value

TLC:

Thin layer chromatography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nuclear Medicine, Cannizzaro Hospital, Catania, Italy

    Sebastiano Cosentino, Fabrizio Scopelliti, Gabriella Murè, Sara Baldari & Massimo Ippolito

Authors
  1. Sebastiano Cosentino
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  2. Fabrizio Scopelliti
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  3. Gabriella Murè
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  4. Sara Baldari
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  5. Massimo Ippolito
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics, Mariano Santo Hospital, Cosenza, Italy

    Ferdinando Calabria

  2. Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Orazio Schillaci

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Cosentino, S., Scopelliti, F., Murè, G., Baldari, S., Ippolito, M. (2020). 11C-Methionine. In: Calabria, F., Schillaci, O. (eds) Radiopharmaceuticals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27779-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27779-6_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27778-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27779-6

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