Head to head comparison of 68Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 vs 18F-FDG PET/CT in the evaluation of primary extrapulmonary tumors in the chest

Abstract

Objective: We conducted a prospective study using ¹⁸F-flurodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) and ⁶⁸Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 (fibroblast-activation protein inhibitor, ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI) PET/CT to diagnose, differentiate, and stage primary extrapulmonary tumors of the thorax.

Methods: Fifty-four participants were undergoing ¹⁸F-FDG and ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT and divided into the benign, intermediate, and malignant based on pathology. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), the tumor-to-blood pool ratio, and tumor-to-liver ratio were compared for primary tumors, lymph nodes, and metastases between the two modalities by two independent samples t tests. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the uptake of ¹⁸F-FDG or ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI among the three groups.

Results: Fifty-four participants were confirmed to have 71 primary lesions, 56 metastatic lymph nodes, and 43 metastatic lesions. ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT could both effectively distinguish malignant lesions from non-malignant lesions, accuracies of 87.32% (p < 0.001). ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT effectively differentiated benign lesions from the non-benign, accuracy being 91.55% (p < 0.001). The accuracies of ¹⁸F-FDG and ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI for detecting lymph node metastasis were 77.22% (61/79) and 87.34% (69/79) (p = 0.096). The uptake of ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI in metastatic lymph nodes was significantly higher than that of the nonmetastatic (p < 0.001). The detection rate of ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT for metastatic lesions was significantly higher than that of ¹⁸F-FDG, 100% (43/43) vs. 53.49% (23/43) (p < 0.001). Compared with ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT, ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT changed the treatment strategy of 7.4% (4/54) participants.

Conclusion: ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT is valuable in the diagnosis and differentiation of primary extrapulmonary tumors and superior to ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT for evaluating lymph node and distant metastasis.

Clinical relevance statement: The application of ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT in primary extrapulmonary chest tumors is valuable, which is reflected in diagnosis, differentiation and exploration of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis.

Key points: • ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT is valuable in the diagnosis, differentiation, and staging of primary extrapulmonary tumors. • ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI PET/CT is superior to ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT for evaluating lymph node and distant metastasis.

Keywords: 18F-FDG; 68Ga-FAPI; Extrapulmonary tumors; PET/CT; SUV.