Dosimetry for 6-[18F]Fluoro-L-DOPA in Humans Based on Biodistribution in Mice

Aim. The objective of this work was to estimate human dosimetry for 6-[18F]Fluoro-L-DOPA (F-DOPA) from biodistribution in mice, obtained from organ harvesting at different time points and from a hybrid method combining dynamic PET followed by organ harvesting.
Materials and methods. The tissue distribution of F-DOPA over time was determined in isoflurane-anaesthetized mice. Radioassay was performed on harvested organs at 2, 5, 10, 30, 60 and 120 minutes post administration (n = 5 at each time point). Dynamic PET images were acquired in list-mode with a Siemens FOCUS 120 microPET for 120 minutes after injection and followed by radioassay of harvested organs (n = 4). List-mode data were histogrammed in 6*5s, 6*10s, 3*20s, 5*30s, 5*60s, 8*150s, 6*300s, 6*600s 3D sinograms. Final images were obtained using filtered backprojection with correction for all physical effects except for scatter. Attenuation correction resulted from a pre-injection transmission scan with a cobalt-57 point source. Organs were manually delineated. The organ time-activity-curves (TACs) from both methods were extrapolated from a simulated 35 g standard mouse to a 70 kg standard male human using a technique based on organ to bodyweight ratios. A bladder voiding scenario was used to simulate excretion every 2 h. The absorbed doses in major human organs were calculated using the extrapolated TACs with the commercially available software OLINDA/EXM (Version 1.1).
Results. The extrapolated organ activity curves obtained using the harvesting and imaging methods showed a high correlation (r = 0.94 ± 0.05, p < 0.001). However, TACs from PET alone under- or overestimated the activity in individual organs in contrast to TACs obtained using the cross-calibration of the PET data with the activity in post-scan dissected organs. Those organs in the excretion pathways, comprising bladder wall, kidneys and liver, received the highest organ doses. The total body absorbed dose was 0.0118 mGy/MBq for both the imaging based and harvesting based methods. The effective dose was 0.0193 mSv/MBq for the hybrid imaging-harvesting technique and 0.0189 mSv/MBq for the pure harvesting technique.
Conclusion. The doses obtained agreed well with the few results available in the literature. The hybrid technique combining dynamic PET scanning followed by organ harvesting appeared to be a good alternative to the gold standard ex vivo radioassay method. It is much faster and minimizes the effect of some weakness of the pure imaging technique, such as partial volume effect.