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Updated: May 18, 2026
Utilizing 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging and Quantitative Histology to Measure Dynamic Changes in the Glucose Metabolism in Mouse Models of Lung Cancer
Published on: July 21, 2018
Metabolic imaging metrics correlate with survival in early stage lung cancer treated with stereotactic ablative
Jonathan A Abelson1, James D Murphy, Nicholas Trakul
1Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Background And Purpose:
To test whether (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) imaging metrics correlate with outcomes in patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).
Material And Methods:
Fifty-four patients with stage I NSCLC underwent pre-SABR PET at simulation and/or post-SABR PET within 6 months. We analyzed maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) and metabolic tumor volume defined using several thresholds (MTV50%, or MTV2, 4, 7, and 10). Endpoints included primary tumor control (PTC), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). We performed Kaplan-Meier, competing risk, and Cox proportional hazards survival analyses.
Results:
Patients received 25-60 Gy in 1 to 5 fractions. Median follow-up time was 13.2 months. The 1-year estimated PTC, PFS, OS and CSS were 100, 83, 87 and 94%, respectively. Pre-treatment SUV(max) (p=0.014), MTV(7) (p=0.0077), and MTV(10) (p=0.0039) correlated significantly with OS. In the low-MTV(7)vs. high-MTV(7) sub-groups, 1-year estimated OS was 100 vs. 78% (p=0.0077) and CSS was 100 vs. 88% (p=0.082).
Conclusions:
In this hypothesis-generating study we identified multiple pre-treatment PET-CT metrics as potential predictors of OS and CSS in patients with NSCLC treated with SABR. These could aid risk-stratification and treatment individualization if validated prospectively.
