Fluorodeoxyglucose

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Fluorodeoxyglucose is a molecule that is an analogue of glucose. Its full chemical name is 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose and is commonly abbreviated to FDG. The molecule is most commonly used in the medical imaging modality positron emission tomography (PET). Here the fluorine in the FDG molecule is replaced with the positron emitting radioactive isotope fluorine-18 to produce ¹⁸F-FDG. After injection into a patient, a PET scanner can form images of the distribution of FDG around the body. The images can be assessed by a radiologist to provide diagnoses of various medical conditions.

FDG competes with glucose in the hexokinase reaction. Unlike glucose, the FDG-6-phosphate formed does not undergo glycolysis and as a result, the distribution of ¹⁸F-FDG is a reflection of the distribution of glucose uptake and phosphorylation by cells in the body.

In PET imaging, ¹⁸F-FDG can be used for the assessment of glucose metabolism in the heart and the brain. It is also used for imaging tumours in oncology. ¹⁸F-FDG is a glucose analog and is taken up by cells, phosphorylated by hexokinase (whose mitochondrial form is greatly elevated in rapidly-growing malignant tumours)^{[#endnote_www.pnas.org.886]}, and retained by tissues with high metabolic activity, such as most types of malignant tumours. As a result FDG-PET can be used for diagnosis, staging, and monitoring treatment of cancers, particularly in Hodgkin's disease, non Hodgkin's lymphoma, and lung cancer. It was also recently approved for use in diagnosing Alzheimers disease.

In the 1970s, Dr. Tatsuo Ido at the Brookhaven National Laboratory was the first to describe the synthesis of ¹⁸F-FDG.

References

External links

For a full list of external links to MSDSs, spectroscopic data, commercial chemicals suppliers etc. for this compound, see [Chemical sources].

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