Correlation of glioma proliferation assessed by flow cytometry with 99mTc-Tetrofosmin SPECT uptake

ObjectivesBrain single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been proposed as a potentially useful modality for the metabolic assessment of various brain tumors.Material and methodsIn a 10-patient prospective pilot study we evaluated whether 99mTc-Tetrofosmin (99mTc-TF) uptake correlates with glioma proliferative activity assessed by flow cytometric analysis. 99mTc-TF brain SPECT was performed shortly before surgical tumor excision.ResultsEight patients were diagnosed with glioblastoma multiform and 2 with anaplastic astrocytoma. All tumors were aneuploid. We found a significant positive linear correlation between 99mTc-TF uptake and percentage of tumor cells on the S-phase of the cell cycle (r = 0.92, P = 0.001).ConclusionInitial evidence suggests that 99mTc-TF could provide a non-invasive indicator of glioma proliferative activity.