2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for detection of pancreatic cancer was evaluated and compared to CT scan. Also the glucose transporter 1 (Glutl) encoding gene expression was determined by Northern blot analysis in 7 patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) and 5 patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP). 73 patients with suspected PC or CP underwent static PET imaging after injection of 250-350 MBq FDG. Focal FDG uptake was considered a sign of malignancy and was calculated using standardized uptake values (60 min p.L). Increased Glutl expression could be demonstrated in all patients with PC and not in patients with CP indicating an important contribution of Glutl to enhanced tumoral glucose consumption. In the visual FDG-PET analysis 41/43 (95%) patients with histologically controlled PC and 27/39 (90%) patients with CP were classified correctly by PET. With CT 33/41 (80%) patients with PC were diagnosed correctly, whereas 7/27 were false-positive (specificity 74%). Thus FDG-PET provided a reliable differentiation of pancreatic adenocarcinoma from chronic pancreatitis.