PET imaging widely used in European brain tumour centres, survey shows

Brussels, 01 July 2025. A survey conducted by the EORTC Brain Tumour Group (EORTC-BTG) reveals that positron emission tomography (PET) is widely available and actively used in the clinical management of brain tumours across Europe. The web-based survey, carried out from June to August 2024, collected responses from 103 neuro-oncology centres in 20 European countries.

The results of the survey have been recently published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (EJNMMI)¹.

“Nearly all responding centres (93%) reported access to PET, and 72% actively used this technology in the management of brain tumours”,
– summarises Nathalie Albert, Chair of the EORTC-BTG Nuclear Medicine Committee and last author of the study.  

While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains the gold standard for response assessment in clinical trials, PET provides complementary information by visualising the metabolic activity of tissue. Most frequently, PET is used in patients with glioma and for differentiation of treatment-related changes from tumour progression. Importantly, somatostatin receptor-targeted PET is used at over 80% of sites for selecting patients with meningioma for radioligand therapy, a promising treatment currently being evaluated by the EORTC-BTG within the LUMEN-1 trial (EORTC-BTG-2334).

Overall, the findings highlight a strong infrastructure for PET imaging among EORTC-BTG sites.

“Only few sites reported a lack of PET availability, mainly due to limited tracer supply, high costs, or restricted coverage by statutory health insurance”,
– adds Maximilian Mair, first author of the study and Young/Early Career Investigator (Y-ECI) of the EORTC-BTG.

This EORTC-BTG survey marks a significant step towards mapping PET imaging practices among neuro-oncology centres across Europe. Ultimately, the insights of this survey support rational clinical trial development and therefore more precise and personalised care for patients with brain tumours.

“The results underscore that PET imaging is not only available but also clinically integrated across EORTC-BTG sites, building a solid foundation for PET-based endpoints in future clinical trials”,
– concludes Matthias Preusser, Chair of the EORTC-BTG.

¹ Mair M et al. Availability and use of PET in patients with brain tumours – a European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer – Brain Tumour Group (EORTC-BTG) survey. Eur J Nucl Med Mol 2025, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-025-07366-0

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation, which unites clinical cancer research experts, throughout Europe, to define better treatments for cancer patients to prolong survival and improve quality of life. Spanning from translational to large, prospective, multi-centre, phase III clinical trials that evaluate new therapies and treatment strategies as well as patient quality of life, its activities are coordinated from EORTC Headquarters, a unique international clinical research infrastructure, based in Brussels, Belgium.

EORTC Communications
Caroline Moulins, Head of Communications
T: +32 2 774 13 68
E: caroline.moulins@eortc.org