Uptake of L-[methyl-11C]methionine (11C-methionine) and [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) was studied with PET in 14 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The low molecular weight fraction of venous plasma separated by fast gel filtration was used as the input function for 11C-methionine studies, and tracer accumulation was analyzed according to Patlak and Gjedde. The average uptake rate of 11C-methionine was 0.0775 +/- 0.0245 min-1 (s.d.) and of FDG 0.0355 +/- 0.0293 min-1, 11C-methionine uptake rate being significantly higher than that of FDG (p less than 0.01). Carbon-11-methionine accumulated strongly in all but one of the lymphomas. FDG accumulated clearly in lymphomas of high-grade malignancy, whereas two intermediate- and three low-grade malignant lymphomas had a poor uptake rate. The tumor/plasma ratio of both 11C-methionine and FDG increased faster in high and intermediate-grade lymphomas than in low-grade lymphomas, but there was considerable overlap between the histologic grades. Carbon-11-methionine seems to be preferable in detecting tumors, while FDG was superior to 11C-methionine in distinguishing the high-grade malignant lymphomas from the other grades.