Enhanced Lung Cancer Outcomes Thanks to PET/CT-Guided Chemoradiotherapy

Posted by PET-CT Las Colinas on October 25th, 2019

Using PET/CT for staging cancer and planning treatment can help improve the outcomes for lung cancer patients. In particular, the use of PET/CT for radiotherapy target volume delineation (TVD) can increase the accuracy of treatment, especially when CT images fail to distinguish a tumor from healthy tissue.

A study that was part prospective and part retrospective was aimed at assessing the differences in the overall two-year survival of patients who received chemoradiotherapy with curative intent before and after an intervention on the use of PET/CT for planning radiotherapy.

During the study:

• It was observed that most patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) benefitted and showed overall improvement as well as progression-free survival.

• Half of the patients staged with PET/CT in the retrospective group received the 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCT) while the rest were placed under intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). A few received radiotherapy while others had sequential or concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

• All patients in the prospective cohort received concurrent chemoradiotherapy with about 42% receiving IMRT, 55% getting 3DCT, and 3% getting volumetric modulated arc therapy.

• Even though the enrolled patients had advanced NSCLC, the finding showed better outcomes. The median progression-free survival in the prospective group was 17 months, while the retrospective cohort was 11 months.

• The overall survival increased in the prospective group compared to the retrospective cohort. The overall survival was high in the prospective cohort too.

• The study did not include PET/CT for radiotherapy planning. Instead, the nuclear medicine physician and radiation oncologist were given intensive hands-on training on how to delineate the primary tumor based on the protocol guidelines of the IAEA.

• The radiotherapy planning procedure was standardized to make sure the current standards of treatment are in use. Precise radiotherapy delivery helped to improve outcomes in the prospective group. The increased confidence in the PET/CT-based contouring and the high delineation accuracy also helped to improve tumor targeting for delivering radiation dose.

The researchers concluded that a combo package of FDG PET/CT-planned radiotherapy, constant use of chemoradiotherapy together with training support and a strong quality control process helped to improve the survival for stage III NSCLC patients.

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PET / CT of Las Colinas was developed with both patients and physicians in mind and our services have been used for various types of disease; primarily in detecting, staging and monitoring cancer, but also in heart disease and brain disorders.