Diagnostic yield of FAP-guided positron emission tomography in thyroid cancer: a systematic review

Alessio Rizzo; Domenico Albano; Francesco Dondi; Martina Cioffi; Barbara Muoio; Salvatore Annunziata; Manuela Racca; Francesco Bertagna; Arnoldo Piccardo; Giorgio Treglia

doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1381863

Diagnostic yield of FAP-guided positron emission tomography in thyroid cancer: a systematic review

Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Mar 25:11:1381863. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1381863. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO - IRCCS, Turin, Italy.
² Division of Nuclear Medicine, Università degli Studi di Brescia and ASST Spedali Civili di Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
³ Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Medical Sciences, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
⁴ Clinic of Medical Oncology, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
⁵ Unità di Medicina Nucleare, GSTeP Radiopharmacy - TracerGLab, Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Medicine, E.O. "Ospedali Galliera," Genoa, Italy.
⁷ Clinic of Nuclear Medicine, Imaging Institute of Southern Switzerland, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
⁸ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁹ Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background: Several recent studies have proposed the possible application of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) administering radiolabelled fibroblast-activation protein (FAP) inhibitors for various forms of thyroid cancer (TC), including differentiated TC (DTC), and medullary TC (MTC).

Methods: The authors conducted an extensive literature search of original studies examining the effectiveness of FAP-guided PET/CT in patients with TC. The papers included were original publications exploring the use of FAP-targeted molecular imaging in restaging metastatic DTC and MTC patients.

Results: A total of 6 studies concerning the diagnostic yield of FAP-targeted PET/CT in TC (274 patients, of which 247 DTC and 27 MTC) were included in this systematic review. The included articles reported high values of FAP-targeted PET/CT detection rates in TC, ranging from 81 to 100% in different anatomical sites and overall superior to the comparative imaging method.

Conclusion: Although there are promising results, the existing literature on the diagnostic accuracy of FAP-guided PET in this context is still quite limited. To thoroughly evaluate its potential significance in TC patients, it is needed to conduct prospective randomized multicentric trials.

Keywords: FAPI; PET; nuclear medicine; oncology; systematic review; thyroid cancer.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.