18-FDG PET Monitoring of IRE Ablation

Dr. Zhuoli Zhang and his team recently published an article in Radiology about a PET-imaging-guided method to detect early metabolic response to irreversible electroporation (IRE). The study shows that IRE induces metabolic changes that can be measured readily on ¹⁸FDG PET images. This study enabled us to confirm the feasibility of using ¹⁸FDG PET images to monitor responses to IRE treatment. ¹⁸F-FDG PET imaging biomarkers can be used for early detection of therapeutic response to IRE treatment in a rodent liver tumor model. Early changes in SUVs highlighted by PET may be important to inform practitioners about tumor metabolic changes induced within IRE ablation zones, related to the therapeutic response. This may permit timely adjustments to patient therapeutic regimen as needed to improve clinical outcomes. Drs. Xifu Wang and Zhangliang Su, both visiting fellows, are co-first authors on this research paper. Congratulations, team!