{"entity":{"id":"fludeoxyglucose-f18","kind":"drug","name":"Fludeoxyglucose F-18 (FDG)","aka":[],"tldr":"The radioactive sugar used in almost every cancer PET scan, approved in the 1990s and made fresh each day by regional cyclotrons.","summary":"Fludeoxyglucose F-18 was the first PET radiopharmaceutical approved by the FDA (1994, initially for epilepsy foci and cardiac viability) and gained its oncology indication in 2000 for assessing abnormal glucose metabolism to assist in evaluating malignancy in patients with known or suspected cancer. It is produced under multiple abbreviated NDAs by commercial and academic cyclotron networks (PETNET, Cardinal Health, SOFIE, hospital sites) and is the tracer behind staging, response assessment (Deauville in lymphoma, PERCIST) and surveillance across most solid tumours. Its weaknesses, uptake in inflammation and poor sensitivity for indolent or low-glucose tumours, drive the development of target-specific tracers.","status":"approved","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fludeoxyglucose_(18F)","links":[{"label":"FDA label (DailyMed)","url":"https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?query=Fludeoxyglucose%20F%2018"}],"tags":["test"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["fdg-pet","pet-ct","pet"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["petnet-solutions","cardinal-health","sofie-biosciences"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["suv","deauville"],"trials":["ahod2131","nct04333537","nct04692103"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["What a result means: 'hot spots' show tissue burning glucose fast; in a person with cancer they usually mark tumour, but infection, healing and brown fat can light up too, so findings are interpreted with CT and biopsy."],"brand":"FDG (multiple manufacturers)","modality":"PET imaging agent (glucose analogue)","mechanism":"18F-labelled glucose analogue taken up through GLUT transporters and trapped after phosphorylation by hexokinase, so metabolically active tumours accumulate signal.","approvals":[{"region":"US","year":1994,"indication":"First FDG NDA (neurology and cardiology indications)"},{"region":"US","year":2000,"indication":"Oncology: assessment of abnormal glucose metabolism to assist in evaluating malignancy"}],"mechanismSteps":[],"toxicity":[],"access":[],"regulatoryEvents":[]},"route":"/drugs/fludeoxyglucose-f18/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"fdg-pet","kind":"technology","name":"FDG PET","route":"/technologies/fdg-pet/"},{"id":"pet","kind":"technology","name":"PET (positron emission tomography)","route":"/technologies/pet/"},{"id":"pet-ct","kind":"technology","name":"PET/CT","route":"/technologies/pet-ct/"}],"company":[{"id":"cardinal-health","kind":"company","name":"Cardinal Health Nuclear & Precision Health Solutions","route":"/companies/cardinal-health/"},{"id":"petnet-solutions","kind":"company","name":"PETNET Solutions (Siemens Healthineers)","route":"/companies/petnet-solutions/"},{"id":"sofie-biosciences","kind":"company","name":"SOFIE Biosciences","route":"/companies/sofie-biosciences/"}],"term":[{"id":"deauville","kind":"term","name":"Deauville score and PET-adapted therapy","route":"/terms/deauville/"},{"id":"suv","kind":"term","name":"Standardised uptake value (SUV)","route":"/terms/suv/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct04293562","kind":"trial","name":"A Study to Compare Standard Chemotherapy to Therapy With CPX-351 and/or Gilteritinib for Patients With Newly Diagnosed AML With or Without FLT3 Mutations","route":"/trials/nct04293562/"},{"id":"ahod2131","kind":"trial","name":"AHOD2131 (COG / NCTN)","route":"/trials/ahod2131/"},{"id":"nct04333537","kind":"trial","name":"Comparing Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) Biopsy With Standard Neck Dissection for Patients With Early-Stage Oral Cavity Cancer","route":"/trials/nct04333537/"},{"id":"nct04692103","kind":"trial","name":"Serial FES PET/CT to Measure Hormone Expression in Patients Undergoing Endocrine Targeted Therapy","route":"/trials/nct04692103/"},{"id":"nct05501665","kind":"trial","name":"Split Course Adaptive Radiation Therapy With Pembrolizumab With/Without Chemotherapy for Treating Stage IV Lung Cancer","route":"/trials/nct05501665/"},{"id":"nct04214262","kind":"trial","name":"Testing the Addition of the Drug Atezolizumab to the Usual Radiation Treatment for Patients With Early Non-small Cell Lung Cancer","route":"/trials/nct04214262/"}]}}