Purpose: The purpose was to test whether patient's primary malignancy type and presence of F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-avid cervical lymph node(s) are predictors of pathologic outcome of incidental focal FDG-avid parotid lesions. Basic procedures: A retrospective cohort study of pathologically proven incidental cases was performed. Main findings: Focal parotid FDG uptake in the setting of head and neck cancer/melanoma [odds ratio (OR)=24.6, P < .01], lymphoma (OR=7.2, P=.02), or FDG-avid cervical lymph node(s) (OR=3.6, P=.07) has a higher odds of representing metastases. No malignant primary parotid tumors were incidentally discovered. Principal conclusions: In patients with head and neck cancer/melanoma, lymphoma, or FDG-avid cervical lymph node(s), there were higher odds that focal parotid FDG uptake was a metastasis.

A hyperpolarization technique using carbonate precursors of biocompatible molecules was found to yield high concentrations of hyperpolarized (13)C bicarbonate in solution. This approach enabled large signal gains for low-toxicity hyperpolarized (13)C pH imaging in a phantom and in vivo in a murine model of prostate cancer.

Here we report the radiosynthesis of an endogenous redox pair, [(11)C]ascorbic acid ([(11)C]VitC) and [(11)C]dehydroascorbic acid ([(11)C]DHA), the reduced and oxidized forms of vitamin C, and their application to ROS sensing. These results provide the basis for in vivo detection of ROS using positron emission tomography (PET).

Imaging tumoral pH may help to characterize aggressiveness, metastasis, and therapeutic response. We report the development of hyperpolarized [2-¹³C,D₁₀]diethylmalonic acid, which exhibits a large pH-dependent ¹³C chemical shift over the physiological range. We demonstrate that co-polarization with [1-¹³C,D₉]tert-butanol accurately measures pH via¹³C NMR and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in phantoms.