A Role of PET Agents Beyond FDG in Gynecology

Gynecologic cancers comprise a varied group of malignancies with diverse clinical presentations and prognosis. Positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), the most commonly used functional imaging for staging, treatment planning, and therapy response evaluation in gynecological cancers, is limited in providing information about the unique biological features of these tumors. There is an increasing need to noninvasively determine the patient's distinct tumor biological features in order to select the most appropriate therapy. This article presents an overview of the key PET biomarkers other than FDG that have been used for imaging of the three most common gynecological malignancies; cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. These functional molecular imaging applications by PET have the potential to be translated to clinical practice for more complete evaluations of these cancers.