Effects of carbidopa premedication on18 f-fdopa pet imaging of glioma: A multiparametric analysis

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the impact of carbidopa premedication on static, dynamic and radiomics parameters of18 F-FDOPA PET in brain tumors. Methods: The study in-cluded 54 patients, 18 of whom received carbidopa, who underwent18 F-FDOPA PET for newly diagnosed gliomas. SUV-derived, 105 radiomics features and TTP dynamic parameters were ex-tracted from volumes of interest in healthy brains and tumors. Simulation of the effects of carbidopa on time-activity curves were generated. Results: All static and TTP dynamic parameters were significantly higher in healthy brain regions of premedicated patients (∆SUVmean = +53%, ∆TTP = +48%, p < 0.001). Furthermore, carbidopa impacted 81% of radiomics features, of which 92% correlated with SUVmean (absolute correlation coefficient ≥ 0.4). In tumors, premedication with carbidopa was an independent predictor of SUVmean (∆SUVmean = +52%, p < 0.001) and TTP (∆TTP = +24%, p = 0.025). All parameters were no longer significantly modified by carbidopa premedication when using ratios to healthy brain. Simulated data confirmed that carbidopa leads to higher tumor TTP values, corrected by the ratios. Conclusion: In18 F-FDOPA PET, carbidopa induces similarly higher SUV and TTP dynamic parameters and similarly impacts SUV-dependent radiomics in healthy brain and tumor regions, which is compensated for by correcting for the tumor-to-healthy-brain ratio. This is a significant advantage for multicentric study harmonization.