Preoperative [11C]methionine PET to personalize treatment decisions in patients with lower-grade gliomas

Background: PET with radiolabelled amino acids is used in the preoperative evaluation of patients with glial neoplasms. This study aimed to assess the role of [ 11C]methionine (MET) PET in assessing molecular features, tumour extent, and prognosis in newly-diagnosed lower-grade gliomas (LGGs) surgically treated. Methods: 153 patients with a new diagnosis of grade 2/3 glioma who underwent surgery at our Institution and were imaged preoperatively using [ 11C]MET PET/CT were retrospectively included. [ 11C]MET PET images were qualitatively and semiquantitatively analyzed using tumour-to-background ratio (TBR). Progression-free survival (PFS) rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional-hazards regression was used to test the association of clinicopathological and imaging data to PFS. Results: Overall, 111 lesions (73%) were positive, while thirty-two (21%) and ten (6%) were isometabolic and hypometabolic at [ 11C]MET PET, respectively. [ 11C]MET uptake was more common in oligodendrogliomas than IDH-mutant astrocytomas (87% vs 50% of cases, respectively). Among [ 11C]MET-positive gliomas, grade 3 oligodendrogliomas had the highest median TBRmax (3.22). In 25% of patients, PET helped to better delineate tumour margins compared to MRI only. In IDH-mutant astrocytomas, higher TBRmax values at [ 11C]MET PET were independent predictors of shorter PFS. Conclusions: This work highlights the role of preoperative [ 11C]MET PET in estimating the type, assessing tumour extent, and predicting biological behaviour and prognosis of LGGs. Our findings support the implementation of [ 11C]MET PET in routine clinical practice to better manage these neoplasms.