PET EVALUATION OF NEUROENDOCRINE TUMORS AND OTHER TUMORS OF CHILDHOOD

正电子发射断层扫描(PET)是一种非侵入性的医学成像技术，它利用特殊的示踪剂来描绘生理和病理生理过程。该建议的目的是应用PET技术来检测、表征和评估成人交感神经系统肿瘤以及儿童这些肿瘤和其他实体恶性肿瘤的治疗反应。我们希望，凭借PET技术的卓越图像分辨率，在检测这些肿瘤的能力方面取得进展。在接受放疗或化疗的患者中，预计一系列研究将表明，肿瘤摄取的变化反映了组织对治疗的反应，并作为治疗效果或失败的早期指标。如果这样的信息可以通过PET扫描以非侵入性的方式获得，那么这些肿瘤患者的治疗将会有很大的改善。

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a non-invasive medical imaging technique which utilizes specialized tracers to depict both physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. The aim of this proposal is to apply PET technology for the detection, characterization, and assessment of the response to therapy of tumors derived from the sympathetic nervous system in adults, and these tumors and other solid malignancies in children. We expect to show, by virtue of the superior image resolution of PET technology, an advance in ability to detect these tumors. In patients undergoing radiation or chemotherapy, it is anticipated that serial studies will show that changes in tumor uptake reflect the tissue response to treatment and serve as an early indicator of therapeutic efficacy or failure. If such information can be made available noninvasively by PET scanning, the management of patients with these tumors could be substantially improved.