Evaluating Tumor Response of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients With F-18-Fludeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography: Potential for Treatment Individualization

Iuliana Toma-Dasu*, Johan Uhrdin, Marta Lazzeroni, Sara Carvalho, Wouter van Elmpt, Philippe Lambin, Alexandru Dasu

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Objective: To assess early tumor responsiveness and the corresponding effective radiosensitivity for individual patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) based on 2 successive F-18-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans. Methods and Materials: Twenty-six NSCLC patients treated in Maastricht were included in the study. Fifteen patients underwent sequential chemoradiation therapy, and 11 patients received concomitant chemoradiation therapy. All patients were imaged with FDG before the start and during the second week of radiation therapy. The sequential images were analyzed in relation to the dose delivered until the second image. An operational quantity, effective radiosensitivity, alpha(eff), was determined at the voxel level. Correlations were sought between the average aeff or the fraction of negative aeff values and the overall survival at 2 years. Separate analyses were performed for the primary gross target volume (GTV), the lymph node GTV, and the clinical target volumes (CTVs). Results: Patients receiving sequential treatment could be divided into responders and nonresponders, using a threshold for the average alpha(eff) of 0.003 Gy(-1) in the primary GTV, with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 100% (P
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)376-384
JournalInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics
Volume91
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2015

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