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Impact of combined (18)F-FDG PET/CT in head and neck tumours.

ABSTRACT: To compare the interobserver agreement and degree of confidence in anatomical localisation of lesions using 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ((18)F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) and (18)F-FDG PET alone in patients with head and neck tumours. A prospective study of 24 patients (16 male, eight female, median age 59 years) with head and neck tumours was undertaken. (18)F-FDG PET/CT was performed for staging purposes. 2D images were acquired over the head and neck area using a GE Discovery LS PET/CT scanner. (18)F-FDG PET images were interpreted by three independent observers. The observers were asked to localise abnormal (18)F-FDG activity to an anatomical territory and score the degree of confidence in localisation on a scale from 1 to 3 (1=exact region unknown; 2=probable; 3=definite). For all (18)F-FDG-avid lesions, standardised uptake values (SUVs) were also calculated. After 3 weeks, the same exercise was carried out using (18)F-FDG PET/CT images, where CT and fused volume data were made available to observers. The degree of interobserver agreement was measured in both instances. A total of six primary lesions with abnormal (18)F-FDG uptake (SUV range 7.2-22) were identified on (18)F-FDG PET alone and on (18)F-FDG PET/CT. In all, 15 nonprimary tumour sites were identified with (18)F-FDG PET only (SUV range 4.5-11.7), while 17 were identified on (18)F-FDG PET/CT. Using (18)F-FDG PET only, correct localisation was documented in three of six primary lesions, while (18)F-FDG PET/CT correctly identified all primary sites. In nonprimary tumour sites, (18)F-FDG PET/CT improved the degree of confidence in anatomical localisation by 51%. Interobserver agreement in assigning primary and nonprimary lesions to anatomical territories was moderate using (18)F-FDG PET alone (kappa coefficients of 0.45 and 0.54, respectively), but almost perfect with (18)F-FDG PET/CT (kappa coefficients of 0.90 and 0.93, respectively). We conclude that (18)F-FDG PET/CT significantly increases interobserver agreement and confidence in disease localisation of (18)F-FDG-avid lesions in patients with head and neck cancers.

SUBMITTER: Syed R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2361926 | biostudies-other | 2005 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:ImportanceThe mechanisms underlying the association between chronic stress and higher mortality among individuals with cancer remain incompletely understood.ObjectiveTo test the hypotheses that among individuals with active head and neck cancer, that higher stress-associated neural activity (ie. metabolic amygdalar activity [AmygA]) at cancer staging associates with survival.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingAcademic Medical Center (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston).Participants240 patients with head and neck cancer (HNCA) who underwent 18F-FDG-PET/CT imaging as part of initial cancer staging.Measurements18F-FDG uptake in the amygdala was determined by placing circular regions of interest in the right and left amygdalae and measuring the mean tracer accumulation (i.e., standardized uptake value [SUV]) in each region of interest. Amygdalar uptake was corrected for background cerebral activity (mean temporal lobe SUV).ResultsAmong individuals with HNCA (age 59±13 years; 30% female), 67 died over a median follow-up period of 3 years (IQR: 1.7-5.1). AmygA associated with heightened bone marrow activity, leukocytosis, and C-reactive protein (P<0.05 each). In adjusted and unadjusted analyses, AmygA associated with subsequent mortality (HR [95% CI]: 1.35, [1.07-1.70], P = 0.009); the association persisted in stratified subset analyses restricted to patients with advanced cancer stage (P<0.001). Individuals within the highest tertile of AmygA experienced a 2-fold higher mortality rate compared to others (P = 0.01). The median progression-free survival was 25 months in patients with higher AmygA (upper tertile) as compared with 36.5 months in other individuals (HR for progression or death [95%CI], 1.83 [1.24-2.68], P = 0.001).Conclusions and relevanceAmygA, quantified on routine 18F-FDG-PET/CT images obtained at cancer staging, independently and robustly predicts mortality and cancer progression among patients with HNCA. Future studies should test whether strategies that attenuate AmygA (or its downstream biological consequences) may improve cancer survival.

Project description:Translational relevanceEvaluation of targeted therapies is urgently needed for the majority of patients with metastatic/recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who progress after immunochemotherapy. Erlotinib, a targeted inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor pathway, lacks FDA approval in HNSCC due to inadequate tumor response. This study identifies two potential avenues to improve tumor response to erlotinib among patients with HNSCC. For the first time, this study shows that an increased erlotinib dose of 300 mg in smokers is well-tolerated and produces similar plasma drug concentration as the regular dose of 150 mg in non-smokers, with increased study-specific defined tumor response. The study also highlights the opportunity for improved patient selection for erlotinib treatment by demonstrating that early in-treatment [18]FDG PET/CT is a potential predictor of tumor response, with robust statistical correlations between metabolic changes on early in-treatment PET (4-7 days through treatment) and anatomic response measured by end-of-treatment CT.PurposePatients with advanced HNSCC failing immunochemotherapy have no standard treatment options. Accelerating the investigation of targeted drug therapies is imperative. Treatment with erlotinib produced low response rates in HNSCC. This study investigates the possibility of improved treatment response through patient smoking status-based erlotinib dose optimization, and through early in-treatment [18]FDG PET evaluation to differentiate responders from non-responders.Experimental designIn this window-of-opportunity study, patients with operable HNSCC received neoadjuvant erlotinib with dose determined by smoking status: 150 mg (E150) for non-smokers and 300 mg (E300) for active smokers. Plasma erlotinib levels were measured using mass spectrometry. Patients underwent PET/CT before treatment, between days 4-7 of treatment, and before surgery (post-treatment). Response was measured by diagnostic CT and was defined as decrease in maximum tumor diameter by ≥ 20% (responders), 10-19% (minimum-responders), and < 10% (non-responders).ResultsNineteen patients completed treatment, ten of whom were smokers. There were eleven responders, five minimum-responders, and three non-responders. Tumor response and plasma erlotinib levels were similar between the E150 and E300 patient groups. The percentage change on early PET/CT and post-treatment PET/CT compared to pre-treatment PET/CT were significantly correlated with the radiologic response on post-treatment CTs: R=0.63, p=0.0041 and R=0.71, p=0.00094, respectively.ConclusionThis pilot study suggests that early in-treatment PET/CT can predict response to erlotinib, and treatment with erlotinib dose adjusted according to smoking status is well-tolerated and may improve treatment response in HNSCC. These findings could help optimize erlotinib treatment in HNSCC and should be further investigated.Clinical trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00601913, identifier NCT00601913.

Project description:The aim of this phase II clinical trial (NCT02965001) was to evaluate the prognostic value of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) PET/CT with the novel ligand 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 in head and neck cancer and compare it with 18F-FDG. Methods: Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma referred for curatively intended radiotherapy were eligible and prospectively included in this study. 68Ga-uPAR and 18F-FDG PET/CT were performed before initiation of curatively intended radiotherapy, and the SUVmax of the primary tumor was measured on both PET/CT studies by 2 independent readers. Relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated, and optimal cutoffs were established for 68Ga-uPAR and 18F-FDG PET independently and compared using log rank and Kaplan-Meier statistics, as well as univariate and multivariate analysis in a Cox proportional-hazards model. Results: In total, 57 patients were included and followed for a median of 33.8 mo (range, 2.30-47.2, mo). The median SUVmax of the primary tumors was 2.98 (range, 1.94-5.24) for 68Ga-uPAR and 15.7 (range, 4.24-45.5) for 18F-FDG. The optimal cutoffs for 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 SUVmax in the primary tumor were 2.63 for RFS and 2.66 for OS. A high uptake of 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 (SUVmax above cutoff) was significantly associated with poor RFS and OS (log-rank P = 0.012 and P = 0.022). 68Ga-NOTA-AE105 uptake in the primary tumor was significantly associated with poor RFS in univariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 8.53 [95% CI, 1.12-64.7]; P = 0.038), and borderline-associated with OS (HR, 7.44 [95% CI, 0.98-56.4]; P = 0.052). For 18F-FDG PET, the optimal cutoffs were 22.7 for RFS and 22.9 for OS. An 18F-FDG SUVmax above the cutoff was significantly associated with reduced RFS (log-rank P = 0.012) and OS (log-rank P = 0.000). 18F-FDG uptake was significantly associated with reduced RFS (HR, 3.27 [95% CI, 1.237-8.66]; P = 0.017) and OS (HR, 7.10 [95% CI, 2.60-19.4]; P < 0.001) in univariate analysis. In a multivariate analysis including 68Ga-uPAR SUVmax, 18F-FDG SUVmax, TNM stage, and p16 status, only 68Ga-uPAR SUVmax remained significant (HR, 8.51 [95% CI, 1.08-66.9]; P = 0.042) for RFS. For OS, only TNM stage and 18F-FDG remained significant. Conclusion: The current trial showed promising results for the use of 68Ga-uPAR PET SUVmax in the primary tumor to predict RFS in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients referred for curatively intended radiotherapy when compared with 18F-FDG PET, TNM stage, and p16 status. 68Ga-uPAR PET could potentially become valuable for identification of patients suited for deescalation of treatment and risk-stratified follow-up schemes.

Project description:Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) demonstrates lower conspicuity on 18F-FDG PET than the more common invasive ductal carcinoma. Other molecular imaging methods may be needed for evaluation of this malignancy. As ILC is nearly always (95%) estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, ER-targeting PET tracers such as 16α-18F-fluoroestradiol (18F-FES) may have value. We reviewed prospective trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center using 18F-FES PET/CT to evaluate metastatic ILC patients with synchronous 18F-FDG and 18F-FES PET/CT imaging, which allowed a head-to-head comparison of these 2 PET tracers. Methods: Six prospective clinical trials using 18F-FES PET/CT in patients with metastatic breast cancer were performed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2008 to 2019. These trials included 92 patients, of whom 14 (15%) were of ILC histology. Seven of 14 patients with ILC had 18F-FDG PET/CT performed within 5 wk of the research 18F-FES PET/CT and no intervening change in management. For these 7 patients, the 18F-FES and 18F-FDG PET/CT studies were analyzed to determine the total number of tracer-avid lesions, organ systems of involvement, and SUVmax of each organ system for both tracers. Results: In the 7 comparable pairs of scans, there were a total of 254 18F-FES-avid lesions (SUVmax, 2.6-17.9) and 111 18F-FDG-avid lesions (SUVmax, 3.3-9.9) suggestive of malignancy. For 5 of 7 (71%) ILC patients, 18F-FES PET/CT detected more metastatic lesions than 18F-FDG PET/CT. In the same 5 of 7 patients, the SUVmax of 18F-FES-avid lesions was greater than the SUVmax of 18F-FDG-avid lesions. One patient had 18F-FES-avid metastases with no corresponding 18F-FDG-avid metastases. There were no patients with 18F-FDG-avid distant metastases without 18F-FES-avid distant metastases, although in one patient liver metastases were evident on 18F-FDG but not on 18F-FES PET. Conclusion: 18F-FES PET/CT compared favorably with 18F-FDG PET/CT for detection of metastases in patients with metastatic ILC. Larger prospective trials of 18F-FES PET/CT in ILC should be considered to evaluate ER-targeted imaging for clinical value in patients with this histology of breast cancer.

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Impact of combined (18)F-FDG PET/CT in head and neck tumours.

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