Treatment Planning for Radiation Therapy

PET scanning plays key roles in planning the management of patients with lung cancer who are candidates for curative-intent treatment with radiotherapy and has contributed to improvements in survival. ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET is the most important modality for staging, patient selection, and radiotherapy target volume definition in patients with unresectable non-small cell lung cancer. Developments include the availability of alternative tracers, such as ¹⁸F-fluorothymidine, for imaging proliferation and a range of hypoxia imaging agents. The role of response-adapted therapy, based on interim PET scans performed during the treatment course, is being explored as a way of improving local disease control.