Abstract Introduction Early detection and/or prediction of metastasis provide more prognostic relevance than local recurrence. Direct spread into the peritoneum is frequently found in pancreatic cancer patients, but positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-deoxy-2-fluoro- d -glucose (FDG) is not useful for identifying such metastasis. We investigated a method to enhance FDG accumulation using AsPC-1 human ascites tumor cells. Methods14 C-FDG accumulation was assessed under the following conditions: 1) characteristics of14 C-FDG transport were examined using phloridzin, a Na+ -free buffer, and various hexoses, and 2) accumulation of14 C-FDG was measured in cells that were pretreated with hexose for various time periods, and activity of 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase (PFK-1) was assayed. Results14 C-FDG transport into AsPC-1 cells was mediated primarily by a Na+ -independent transport mechanism. Aldohexoses such as d -glucose, d -mannose, and d -galactose inhibited14 C-FDG transport. Cells pretreated with d -glucose, d -mannose, or d -fructose exhibited augmented14 C-FDG accumulation. Pretreatment with higher concentrations of d -glucose or d -fructose tended to increase PFK-1 activity. Conclusions Very little information has been published about the association between PFK-1 and FDG accumulation, and we confirmed the impacts of various hexoses on the activity of PFK-1 and FDG accumulation in AsPC-1 cells. Clarifying the relevance of PFK-1 in FDG accumulation will contribute to developing new features of FDG-PET, because PFK-1 is the main regulator of glycolysis.