In contrast to 18F-FDG PET/CT, 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT can be performed without specific patient preparation such as fasting or recline during uptake time. This is a potential operational advantage for 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT, as it stands to improve patient comfort and accelerate work-flow.

According to Haberkorn, 68Ga-FAPI offers the possibility of a theranostic approach in the future. "Cancer associated fibroblasts have been described as immunosuppressive and as conferring resistance to chemotherapy, which makes them attractive targets for combination therapies," he said. "Because the 68Ga-FAPI tracers contain the universal DOTA-chelator, it is possible to label them with therapeutic radionuclides whose half-life fits to the tumor retention time of the carrier molecule. Since the tracer has been observed to accumulate in several important tumor entities, there may be a huge field of therapeutic application to be evaluated in the future."


This study was made available online in April 2019 ahead of final publication in print in June 2019.

The authors of "68Ga-FAPI PET/CT: Tracer Uptake in 28 Different Kinds of Cancer" include Clemens Kratochwil, Thomas Lindner, Labidi Abderrahim, Walter Mier, Hendrik Rathke, Manuel Röhrich and Frederik L. Giesel, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Paul Flechsig, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg, German Center for Lung Research, Heidelberg, Germany; Annette Altmann, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Nuclear Medicine, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; Sebastian Adeberg, Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany; Hauke Winter, Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg, German Center for Lung Research, Heidelberg, Germany, and Department of Surgery, Thoraxklinik at University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Peter K. Plinkert, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Frederik Marme, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany; Matthias Lang, Department of Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Hans Ulrich Kauczor, Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg, German Center for Lung Research, Heidelberg, Germany, and Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Dirk Jäger, Department of Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine VI, National Center for Tumor Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; Jürgen Debus, Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; and Uwe Haberkorn, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg, German Center for Lung Research, Heidelberg, Germany, and Clinical Cooperation Unit Nuclear Medicine, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.

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