Metabolic characteristics distinguishing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a negative pilot study of (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT clarified by transcriptomic analysis.

PET using fluorine-18 fluorocholine ((18)F-fluorocholine) may detect malignancies that involve altered choline metabolism. While (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT has shown greater sensitivity for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than (18)F-fluoro-D-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT, it is not known whether it can also detect intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), a less common form of primary liver cancer. Clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic data from 5 patients with ICC and 23 patients with HCC from a diagnostic trial of liver (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT imaging were analyzed to preliminarily evaluate (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT for ICC.