Verwer, E. E.Zegers, C. M. L.van Elmpt, W.Wierts, R.Windhorst, A. D.Mottaghy, F. M.Lambin, P.Boellaard, R.2017-01-032016Verwer, E. E., C. M. L. Zegers, W. van Elmpt, R. Wierts, A. D. Windhorst, F. M. Mottaghy, P. Lambin, and R. Boellaard. 2016. “Pharmacokinetic modeling of a novel hypoxia PET tracer [18F]HX4 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.” EJNMMI Physics 3 (1): 30. doi:10.1186/s40658-016-0167-y. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40658-016-0167-y.2197-7364http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:29738998Background: [18F]HX4 is a promising new PET tracer developed to identify hypoxic areas in tumor tissue. This study analyzes [18F]HX4 kinetics and assesses the performance of simplified methods for quantification of [18F]HX4 uptake. To this end, eight patients with non-small cell lung cancer received dynamic PET scans at three different time points (0, 120, and 240 min) after injection of 426 ± 72 MBq [18F]HX4, each lasting 30 min. Several compartment models were fitted to time activity curves (TAC) derived from various areas within tumor tissue using image-derived input functions. Results: Best fits were obtained using the reversible two-tissue compartment model with blood volume parameter (2T4k+VB). Simplified measures correlated well with VT estimates (tumor-to-blood ratio (TBr) R 2 = 0.96, tumor-to-muscle ratio R 2 = 0.94, standardized uptake value R 2 = 0.89). Conclusions: [18F]HX4 shows reversible kinetics in tumor tissue: 2T4k+VB. TBr based on static imaging at 2 or 4 h can be used for quantification of [18F]HX4 uptake. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40658-016-0167-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.en-USHypoxiaMolecular imagingPositron emission tomography (PET)Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)Tracer kinetic modelingStandardized uptake value (SUV)Tumor-to-blood ratioImage-derived input function (IDIF)Journal Article2017-01-0310.1186/s40658-016-0167-y