18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET, the Brain, and Other Organs: From the First Human Studies (1976) to 2026

Abass Alavi; Mona-Elisabeth Revheim; Andrew B Newberg; Thomas J Werner; Eric Guedj

doi:10.1016/j.cpet.2026.05.001

18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET, the Brain, and Other Organs: From the First Human Studies (1976) to 2026

PET Clin. 2026 Jul 21:S1556-8598(26)00046-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cpet.2026.05.001. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Abass Alavi¹, Mona-Elisabeth Revheim², Andrew B Newberg³, Thomas J Werner⁴, Eric Guedj⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: Abass.Alavi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
² Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, The Intervention Center, Division for Technology and Innovation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Radiology, Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁵ Aix Marseille University, APHM, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, Institut Fresnel, Timone Hospital, CERIMED, Nuclear Medicine Department, Marseille, France.

PMID: 42481350
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpet.2026.05.001

Abstract

The introduction of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to medicine has been revolutionary during the past 5 decades, and its impact rivals that of other technical advances that have been made in medicine during the past century. Therefore, it is timely to celebrate the impact of this unique tracer and its critical role in so many domains of medicine, including the assessment and management of many serious diseases and disorders in the brain but also the entire body. FDG has lived up to the title molecule of the century. With the invention of total body PET instruments, the future looks just as promising.

Keywords: Brain metabolism; Cancer imaging; FDG (18F-fluorodeoxyglucose); Infection; Inflammation; PET; Total body PET.

Publication types

Review