Application of radionuclide-labeled choline in PET/CT tumor imaging

¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT has significantly enhanced the accuracy of diagnosing malignant tumors, guided the staging and restaging of malignant tumors, and considerably impacted the treatment of patients. The importance of the clinical application of this technology in many tumors has been recognized, but several deficiencies remain. With the development of positron imaging agent, radionuclide-labeled choline has been increasingly applied in clinical research. Choline is an important component of the cell membrane, and its metabolism increases malignant tumors. Recent studies have shown that choline PET/CT has good value in the diagnosis, staging, and recurrence detection of glioma, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, and bladder cancer. This technology is especially beneficial for observing intracranial lesions, diagnosing well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma, and mapping the biological target area and location of recurrent lesions. Therefore, choline PET/CT complements the deficiency of FDG PET/CT to some extent. This paper reviews the application of radionuclide-labeled choline (¹¹C-choline/¹⁸F-choline) in tumor imaging. (authors)