18F-FluoroethylCholine Positron Emission Tomography: a Promising Diagnostic Tool for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

18F-FluoroethylCholine (18F-FECH) is a new tracer used in PET synthesized by Nuclear Medical Center of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and is favored for diagnosis of primary brain tumor. Although 18F-FECH showed a high presence of biological distribution in liver, 18F-FECH PET may have a higher sensitivity in diagnosis of intra- and extra-hepatic lesions of HCC respectively than those of 18F-FDG or 11C-acetate PET scan, and 18F-FECH PET could be a promising tool in diagnosis and staging, therapy selection and prognostic evaluation for HCC patients. However, much more cases are required to verify this theory. The purpose for this study is to establish the model of clinical experimental prospective study, and to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 18F-FECH PET in diagnosis of HCC.