Tyrosine PET (Neurooncology)

Tyrosine is a natural amino acid and an endogenous substance.
18F-ethyltyrosine (FET) is a tracer that, like amino acids, is taken up by brain tumors and brain metastases, but hardly by normal brain tissue.
The tracer is therefore ideally suited for the assessment of brain tumors, metastases and for recurrence diagnostics after therapy.
To a certain extent, 18F-FET can also be used to differentiate therapy-induced changes in the brain from tumor recurrence, which is not always possible with other imaging methods.

MRI image of a brain with astrocytoma

High tracer uptake (arrows) at the resection margin in recurrent WHO grade III astrocytoma.

Indications

The following indications are covered by health insurance:

  • Evaluation of brain tumors (e.g. to find the best biopsy site)
  • Re-evaluation of malignant brain tumors
For details see PDF, page 105ff

Responsible professionals

Martin Hüllner, Prof. Dr. med.

Senior Attending Physician, Vice Director of Department, Department of Nuclear Medicine

Tel. +41 44 255 25 80
Specialties: Research group: Hybrid and molecular tumor imaging, PET/CT and PET/MR, SPECT/CT

Lars Husmann, Prof. Dr. med.

Attending Physician, Department of Nuclear Medicine

Tel. +41 43 253 87 99

Cäcilia Mader, Dr. med.

Attending Physician with extended responsibilites, Department of Nuclear Medicine

Tel. +41 43 253 88 02

Alexander Maurer, Dr. med.

Attending Physician with extended responsibilites, Department of Nuclear Medicine

Tel. +41 43 253 88 09
Specialties: Multimodal oncological hybrid imaging (PET/CT and PET/MRI), Imaging of prostate cancer (PSMA PET), SPECT/CT

Michael Messerli, PD Dr. med.

Attending Physician with extended responsibilites, Department of Nuclear Medicine

Tel. +41 43 253 88 03
Specialties: Multimodal oncological imaging, Thoracic imaging, Research group: Hybrid and molecular tumor imaging

For patients

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Responsible Department