Fluorine-18 fluorothymidine: A new positron emission radioisotope for renal tumors

Fluorine-18 fluorothymidine (F-18 FLT) is a radioisotope based on the nucleic acid thymidine and has emerged as an important tracer that mirrors cellular proliferation in positron emission tomography (PET) studies. Early studies in human tumors have been promising. However, imaging of renal tumors using F-18 FLT PET studies has not previously been described. In this report, a difficult case of renal transitional cell carcinoma in a longstanding cyst was clearly delineated using F-18 FLT. Importantly, the study was able to guide clinicians toward appropriate surgical management. The use of such tracers may herald a new era in renal tumor imaging.