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PET scans identified predictors of outcome in patients with sarcomas
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Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography helped determine the outcomes of chemotherapy treatment for patients with bone sarcomas.
“The utility of a tumor pre-therapy [fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography] FDG PET scan as a biomarker for the outcome of patients with sarcoma was strengthened by a mid-therapy scan to evaluate the interim treatment response,” the investigators wrote.
The prospective study involved 22 patients between 10 years and 20 years old and 43 patients between 21 years and 66 years old who had a diagnosis of either bone or soft-tissue sarcoma. Patients were enrolled between 1995 and 2005 and had an average follow-up of 3.4 years. Patients underwent fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) (PET Advance; GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI) scans before doxorubicin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy, after two rounds of chemotherapy and before resection.
After univariate analysis, the researchers found that tumor size, standardized uptake value (SUV) diff (a calculation of percentage change in maximum standardized uptake value [SUVmax]) and tumor type predicted patient survival. However, in the multivariate analysis, none of these variables were significant. Standardized uptake value diff and tumor size and type were associated with disease progression in progression-free survival and pre-therapy SUVmax, SUVdiff and tumor site predicted local-progression-free survival.
“Tumor therapy FDG SUVmax and SUVdiff combined as strong predictors of patient outcome and can be considered in further analyses,” the authors wrote in the study.
Disclosure: Eary receives institutional grants, travel expenses and payment for lectures from the National Institutes of Health.
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