Advances in PET and MRI imaging of tumor hypoxia

Pierrick Gouel; Pierre Decazes; Pierre Vera; Isabelle Gardin; Sébastien Thureau; Pierre Bohn

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1055062

Advances in PET and MRI imaging of tumor hypoxia

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Feb 9:10:1055062. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1055062. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Pierrick Gouel^{1

2}, Pierre Decazes^{1

2}, Pierre Vera^{1

2}, Isabelle Gardin^{1

2}, Sébastien Thureau^{2

3}, Pierre Bohn^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Département d'Imagerie, Centre Henri Becquerel, Rouen, France.
² QuantIF-LITIS, EA 4108, IRIB, Université de Rouen, Rouen, France.
³ Département de Radiothérapie, Centre Henri Becquerel, Rouen, France.

Abstract

Tumor hypoxia is a complex and evolving phenomenon both in time and space. Molecular imaging allows to approach these variations, but the tracers used have their own limitations. PET imaging has the disadvantage of low resolution and must take into account molecular biodistribution, but has the advantage of high targeting accuracy. The relationship between the signal in MRI imaging and oxygen is complex but hopefully it would lead to the detection of truly oxygen-depleted tissue. Different ways of imaging hypoxia are discussed in this review, with nuclear medicine tracers such as [¹⁸F]-FMISO, [¹⁸F]-FAZA, or [⁶⁴Cu]-ATSM but also with MRI techniques such as perfusion imaging, diffusion MRI or oxygen-enhanced MRI. Hypoxia is a pejorative factor regarding aggressiveness, tumor dissemination and resistance to treatments. Therefore, having accurate tools is particularly important.

Keywords: OE-MRI; [18F]-FAZA; [18F]-FMISO; [64Cu]-ATSM; cancer; hypoxia.

Publication types

Review