Abstract: Objective: To investigate the correlation of 18F-FDG uptake with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression and microvessel density (MVD) in neuroepithelioma. Methods: 18F-FDG PET examinations were performed preoperatively in 41 patients with suspected neuroepithelioma. Immunohistochemical stain methods were used to demonstrate the situation of VEGF expression and quantitatively measure the MVD in tumors. According to the situation of VEGF expression, all the cases were divided into two groups including low VEGF expression group and high VEGF expression group. Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparing the difference between the two groups. Spearman correlation analysis was used for observing the correlation between T/WM and MVD. Results: T/WM in low VEGF expression group (n=24) and high VEGF expression group (n=17) ranged from 0.62～3.04 and 1.29～7.64, respectively. The difference of T/WM between two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The MVD of tumors were 9.76～94.52, which showed positive correlation with T/WM (P<0.05). Conclusion: The 18F-FDG uptake of neuroepithelioma are feasible for evaluation of microvessel angiogenesis in vivo and have instructive function for clinical treatment and assessment of prognosis.

Key words: neuroepithelioma, deoxyglucose, PET, vascular endothelial growth factor, microvessel density