Impact of computed tomography (CT) and 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) image fusion for conformal radiotherapy in esophageal carcinoma]

PURPOSE: To study the impact of fused (18)F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-hybrid positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) images on conformal radiation therapy (CRT) planning for patients with esophageal carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-four patients with esophageal carcinoma were referred for concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy with radical intent. Each patient underwent CT and FDG-hybrid PET for simulation treatment in the same radiation treatment position. PET-images were coregistered using five fiducial markers. Target delineation was initially performed on CT images and the corresponding PET data were subsequently used as an overlay to CT data to define the target volume. RESULTS: FDG-PET identified previously undetected distant metastatic disease in 2 patients, making them ineligible for curative CRT. The Gross Tumor Volume (GTV) was decreased by CT and FDG image fusion in 12 patients (35%) and was increased in 7 patients (20.5%). The GTV reduction was >or=25% in 4 patients due to reduction of the length of the esophageal tumor. The GTV increase was >or=25% with FDG-PET in 2 patients due to the detection of occult mediastinal lymph node involvement in one patient and an increased length of the esophageal tumor in the other patient. Modifications of the GTV affected the planning treatment volume (PTV) in 18 patients. Modifications of delineation of GTV and displacement of the isocenter of PTV by FDG-PET also affected the percentage of total lung volume receiving more than 20 Gy (VL20) in 25 patients (74%), with a dose reduction in 12 patients and a dose increase in 13 patients. CONCLUSION: In our study, CT and FDG-PET image fusion appeared to have an impact on treatment planning and management of patients with esophageal carcinoma related to modifications of GTV. The impact on treatment outcome remains to be demonstrated.     

氟脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射型体层摄影术在非小细胞肺癌适形放疗中的应用研究

目的探讨氟脱氧葡萄糖(FDG)正电子发射型体层摄影术(PET)在非小细胞肺癌(NSCLC)三维适形放疗定位中的辅助作用。方法13例非小细胞肺癌患者行FDG PET和CT检查，利用CT和FDG PET-CT图像融合软件分别勾画大体肿瘤体积(GTVCT和GTVPET-CT)，并对两者进行比较。结果13例患者除2例外，其他患者的GTVCT和GTVPET-CT均不同，其中5例GTVPET-CT大于GTVCT，平均增加29．2cm^3；6例GTVPET-CT小于GTVCT，平均减少41．6cm^3。结论与单纯CT图像相比，FDG PET-CT融合图像不仅能更好地分清肿瘤与正常组织，而且对纵隔淋巴结具有更高的敏感性和特异性。     

Impact of CT and 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography image fusion for conformal radiotherapy in esophageal carcinoma

PURPOSE: To study the impact of fused (18)F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-hybrid positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) images on conformal radiotherapy planning for esophageal carcinoma patients. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Thirty-four esophageal carcinoma patients were referred for concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy with radical intent. Each patient underwent CT and FDG-hybrid PET for simulation treatment in the same treatment position. PET images were coregistered using five fiducial markers. Target delineation was initially performed on CT images, and the corresponding PET data were subsequently used as an overlay to CT data to define the target volume. RESULTS: (18)F-fluorodeoxy-D-glucose-PET identified previously undetected distant metastatic disease in 2 patients, making them ineligible for curative conformal radiotherapy. The gross tumor volume (GTV) was decreased by CT and FDG image fusion in 12 patients (35%) and increased in 7 patients (21%). The GTV reduction was > or =25% in 4 patients owing to a reduction in the length of the esophageal tumor. The GTV increase was > or =25% with FDG-PET in 2 patients owing to the detection of occult mediastinal lymph node involvement in 1 patient and an increased length of the esophageal tumor in 1 patient. Modifications of the GTV affected the planning treatment volume in 18 patients. Modifications of the delineation of the GTV and displacement of the isocenter of the planning treatment volume by FDG-PET also affected the percentage of total lung volume receiving >20 Gy in 25 patients (74%), with a dose reduction in 12 patients and dose increase in 13. CONCLUSION: In our study, CT and FDG-PET image fusion appeared to have an impact on treatment planning and management of esophageal carcinoma. The affect on treatment outcome remains to be demonstrated.     

Impact of computed tomography and F-deoxyglucose coincidence detection emission tomography image fusion for optimization of conformal radiotherapy in non–small-cell lung cancer

PURPOSE: To report a retrospective study concerning the impact of fused 18F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-hybrid positron emission tomography (PET) and CT images on three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy planning for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 101 patients consecutively treated for Stage I-III non-small-cell lung cancer were studied. Each patient underwent CT and FDG-hybrid PET for simulation treatment in the same treatment position. Images were coregistered using five fiducial markers. Target volume delineation was initially performed on the CT images, and the corresponding FDG-PET data were subsequently used as an overlay to the CT data to define the target volume. RESULTS: 18F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose-PET identified previously undetected distant metastatic disease in 8 patients, making them ineligible for curative conformal radiotherapy (1 patient presented with some positive uptake corresponding to concomitant pulmonary tuberculosis). Another patient was ineligible for curative treatment because the fused PET-CT images demonstrated excessively extensive intrathoracic disease. The gross tumor volume (GTV) was decreased by CT-PET image fusion in 21 patients (23%) and was increased in 24 patients (26%). The GTV reduction was > or = 25% in 7 patients because CT-PET image fusion reduced the pulmonary GTV in 6 patients (3 patients with atelectasis) and the mediastinal nodal GTV in 1 patient. The GTV increase was > or = 25% in 14 patients owing to an increase in the pulmonary GTV in 11 patients (4 patients with atelectasis) and detection of occult mediastinal lymph node involvement in 3 patients. Of 81 patients receiving a total dose of > or = 60 Gy at the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements point, after CT-PET image fusion, the percentage of total lung volume receiving >20 Gy increased in 15 cases and decreased in 22. The percentage of total heart volume receiving >36 Gy increased in 8 patients and decreased in 14. The spinal cord volume receiving at least 45 Gy (2 patients) decreased. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor with atelectasis was the single independent factor that resulted in a significant effect on the modification of the size of the GTV by FDG-PET: tumor with atelectasis (with vs. without atelectasis, p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The results of our study have confirmed that integrated hybrid PET/CT in the treatment position and coregistered images have an impact on treatment planning and management of non-small-cell lung cancer. However, FDG images using dedicated PET scanners and respiration-gated acquisition protocols could improve the PET-CT image coregistration. Furthermore, the impact on treatment outcome remains to be demonstrated.     

CT and F-deoxyglucose (FDG) image fusion for optimization of conformal radiotherapy of lung cancers

Purpose: To validate a computed tomography (CT) and ¹⁸F-deoxyglucose (FDG) image fusion procedure and to evaluate its usefulness to facilitate target definition and treatment planning in three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) for non–small-cell lung cancer.

Methods and Materials: Twelve patients were assessed by CT and FDG-coincidence mode dual-head gamma camera (CDET) before radiotherapy. The patients were placed in a similar position during CT and FDG-CDET. Matching was achieved by minimizing the cost function by 3D translation and rotation between four landmarks drawn on the patient’s skin. Virtual simulation was performed from image fusion and estimated dose–volume histograms (DVH) were calculated.

Results: Quantitative analysis indicated that the matching error was < 5 mm. Fusion of anatomic and metabolic data corrected staging of lymph nodes (N) for 4 patients and staging of metastases for 1 patient. In these 5 patients, DVH revealed that the lung volume irradiated at 20 Gy (Vl₂₀) was decreased by an average of 22.8%, and tumor volume irradiated at the 95% isodose (V₉₅) was increased by 22% and 8% for 2 patients, respectively, and was decreased by an average of 59% for 3 patients after fusion. No difference in terms of Vl₂₀ and V₉₅ was observed for the other 7 patients.

Conclusion: We have validated CT and FDG-CDET lung image fusion to facilitate determination of lung cancer volumes, which improved the accuracy of 3D-CRT.     

Role of computed tomography and [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography image fusion in conformal radiotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer: a comparison with standard techniques with and without elective nodal irradiation

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: Mediastinal elective node irradiation (ENI) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer candidate to radical radiotherapy is controversial. In this study, the impact of co-registered [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (PET) and standard computed tomography (CT) on definition of target volumes and toxicity parameters was evaluated, by comparison with standard CT-based simulation with and without ENI. METHODS: CT-based gross tumor volume (GTVCT) was first contoured by a single observer without knowledge of PET results. Subsequently, the integrated GTV based on PET/CT coregistered images (GTVPET/CT) was defined. Each patient was planned according to three different treatment techniques: 1) radiotherapy with ENI using the CT data set alone (ENI plan); 2) radiotherapy without ENI using the CT data set alone (no ENI plan); 3) radiotherapy without ENI using PET/CT fusion data set (PET plan). Rival plans were compared for each patient with respect to dose to the normal tissues (spinal cord, healthy lungs, heart and esophagus). RESULTS: The addition of PET-modified TNM staging in 10/21 enrolled patients (48%); 3/21 were shifted to palliative treatment due to detection of metastatic disease or large tumor not amenable to high-dose radiotherapy. In 7/18 (39%) patients treated with radical radiotherapy, a significant (> or =25%) change in volume between GTVCT and GTVPET/CT was observed. For all the organs at risk, ENI plans had dose values significantly greater than no-ENI and PET plans. Comparing no ENI and PET plans, no statistically significant difference was observed, except for maximum point dose to the spinal cord Dmax, which was significantly lower in PET plans. Notably, even in patients in whom PET/CT planning resulted in an increased GTV, toxicity parameters were fairly acceptable, and always more favorable than with ENI plans. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET should be integrated in no-ENI techniques, as it improves target volume delineation without a major increase in predicted toxicity.     

Single photon emission tomography/computed tomography (SPET/CT) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) to image cancer

Hybrid systems associating the sharpness of anatomic images coming from computed tomography (CT) and radionuclide functional imaging (SPET or PET) are opening a new era in oncology. This multimodal imaging method is now routinely used for the diagnosis, extent, follow up, treatment response and detection of occult disease in different types of malignancies with a significant impact on the treatment strategy leading for a change for more than 68% of all investigated patients.     

Impact of positron emission tomography with computed tomography for image-guided radiotherapy

Therapeutic effectiveness in radiotherapy is partly related to correct staging of the disease and then precise therapeutic targeting. Positron emission tomography (PET) allows the stage of many cancers to be determined and therefore is essential before deciding on radiation treatment. The definition of the therapeutic target is essential to obtain correct tumour control and limit side effects. The part of adaptive radiotherapy remains to be defined, but PET by its functional nature makes it possible to define the prognosis of many cancers and to consider radiotherapy adapted to the initial response allowing an increase over the entire metabolic volume, or targeted at a subvolume at risk per dose painting, or with a decrease in the dose in case of good response at interim assessment.     

CT与MRI图像融合在颅内肿瘤三维适形放疗中的应用

目的采用CT与MRI图像融合技术,为颅脑肿瘤三维适形放疗提供更精确地靶区定义。方法对25例脑瘤患者分别使用CT和MRI进行三维适形放疗定位,比较2种图像采集方式确定靶区的不同。以MRI确定的靶区作为大体靶区(GTV),以CT图像提供的CT值进行剂量计算,制定放疗计划。结果25例患者均接受了CT和MRI定位,解剖结构及体表标记均基本重合。其中23例患者CT和MRI扫描后显示病灶数目相同,2例患者显示病灶数目不同。CT比MRI扫描GTV体积增大者10例,缩小者15例。放疗结束后复查颅脑MRI评价疗效,有效率为64.0%。结论CT与MRI融合技术进行三维立体适形放疗定位,提高了GTV确定的精确性,提高了适形放疗的精度。     

Impact of hybrid fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography on radiotherapy planning in esophageal and non-small-cell lung cancer

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a hybrid fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) scanner in radiotherapy planning for esophageal and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS AND MATERIALS: A total of 30 patients (16 with esophageal cancer, 14 with NSCLC) underwent an FDG-PET/CT for radiotherapy planning purposes. Noncontrast total-body spiral CT scans were obtained first, followed immediately by FDG-PET imaging which was automatically co-registered to the CT scan. A physician not involved in the patients' original treatment planning designed a gross tumor volume (GTV) based first on the CT dataset alone, while blinded to the FDG-PET dataset. Afterward, the physician designed a GTV based on the fused PET/CT dataset. To standardize PET GTV margin definition, background liver PET activity was standardized in all images. The CT-based and PET/CT-based GTVs were then quantitatively compared by way of an index of conformality, which is the ratio of the intersection of the two GTVs to their union. RESULTS: The mean index of conformality was 0.44 (range, 0.00-0.70) for patients with NSCLC and 0.46 (range, 0.13-0.80) for patients with esophageal cancer. In 10 of the 16 (62.5%) esophageal cancer patients, and in 12 of the 14 (85.7%) NSCLC patients, the addition of the FDG-PET data led to the definition of a smaller GTV. CONCLUSION: The incorporation of a hybrid FDG-PET/CT scanner had an impact on the radiotherapy planning of esophageal cancer and NSCLC. In future studies, we recommend adoption of a conformality index for a more comprehensive comparison of newer treatment planning imaging modalities to conventional options.     

Dosimetric implications of the addition of 18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography in CT-based radiotherapy planning for non-small-cell lung cancer

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) CT on radiotherapy planning parameters for patients treated curatively with radiotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Five patients with stages I–III NSCLC underwent a diagnostic FDG-PET CT (dPET CT), planning FDG-PET CT (pPET CT) and a simulation CT (RTP CT). For each patient, three radiation oncologists delineated a gross tumour volume based on RTP CT alone, and fused with dPET CT and pPET CT. Standard expansions were used to generate PTVs, and a 3D conformal plan was created. Normal tissue doses were compared between plans. Coverage of pPET CT PTV by the plans based on RTP CT and dPET CT was assessed, and tumour control probabilities were calculated. Mean PTV was similar between RTP CT, dPET CT and pPET CT, although there were significant inter-observer differences in four patients. The plans, however, showed no significant differences in doses to lung, oesophagus, heart or spinal cord. The RTP CT plan and dPET CT plan significantly underdosed the pPET PTV in two patients with minimum doses ranging from 12 to 63% of prescribed dose. Coverage by the 95% isodose was suboptimal in these patients, but this did not translate into poorer tumour control probability. The effect of fused FDG-PET varied between observers. The addition of dPET and pPET did not significantly change the radiotherapy planning parameters. Although FDG-PET is of benefit in tumour delineation, its effect on normal tissue complication probability and tumour control probability cannot be predicted.     

PET-CT在三维适形放射治疗晚期胰腺癌中的应用

目的：评价PET-CT在三维适形放射治疗晚期胰腺癌中靶区勾画的价值及放疗后评价疗效的意义。方法：对13例晚期胰腺癌患者,采用PET-CT检查并定位,分别勾画出大体肿瘤体积CT-GTV和PET-CT-GTV,并分别制定出三维适形放射治疗的GTV进行比较。放疗后3个月行PET-CT复查。结果：13例患者的PET-CT-GTV和CT-GTV均不同,其中5例患者PET-CT-GTV较CT-GTV平均减少10.9cm3（25.7%）。CT-GTV平均42.4 cm3,PET-CT-GTV平均为31.5cm3（P=0.0045）;8例患者的PET-CT-GTV较CT-GTV增加45.3%（27.4 cm3）,CT-GTV平均为60.4 cm3,PET-CT-GTV平均为87.8 cm3（P=0.0000）。治疗后3个月PET-CT复查示：7例胰腺病灶较前明显缩小,局部FDG代谢明显减低或消失。其余6例病灶略缩小,FDG不同程度减低。治疗后的SUVmax变化范围为1.6-6.0,SUVmean变化范围为1.4-2.2。结论：采用PET-CT融合图像能够更好地提高靶区确定的精度及不确定性,最大限度减少不同勾画者之间的差异性。治疗前后局部病灶代谢活性的不同程度改变,对评价放疗疗效具有一定的指导意义。     

Four-dimensional multislice computed tomography for determination of respiratory lung tumor motion in conformal radiotherapy

PURPOSE: We used four-dimensional multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) to determine respiratory lung-tumor motion and compared this strategy to common clinical practice in conformal radiotherapy treatment-planning imaging. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The entire lung volume of 10 consecutive patients with 14 lung metastases were scanned by a 16-slice MSCT. During the scans, patients were instructed to breathe through a spirometer that was connected to a laptop computer. For each patient, 10 stacks of 1.5-mm slices, equally distributed throughout the respiratory cycle, were reconstructed from the acquired MSCT data. The lung tumors were manually contoured in each data set. For each patient, the tumor-volume contours of all data sets were copied to 1 data set, which allowed determination of the volume that encompassed all 10 lung-tumor positions (i.e., the tumor-traversed volume [TTV]) during the respiratory cycle. The TTV was compared with the 10 tumor volumes contoured for each patient, to which an empiric respiratory-motion margin was added. The latter target volumes were designated internal-motion included tumor volume (IMITV). RESULTS: The TTV measurements were significantly smaller than the reference IMITV measurements (5.2 +/- 10.2 cm(3) and 10.1 +/- 13.7 cm(3), respectively). All 10 IMITVs for 2 of the 4 tumors in 1 subject completely encompassed the TTV. All 10 IMITVs for 3 tumors in 2 patients did not show overlap with up to 35% of the corresponding TTV. The 10 IMITVs for the remaining tumors either completely encompassed the corresponding TTV or did not show overlap with up to 26% of the corresponding TTV. CONCLUSIONS: We found that individualized determination of respiratory lung-tumor motion by four-dimensional respiratory-gated MSCT represents a better and simple strategy to incorporate periodic physiologic motion compared with a generalized approach. The former strategy can, therefore, improve common and state-of-the-art clinical practice in conformal radiotherapy.     

Accuracy of helical computed tomography and [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for identifying lymph node mediastinal metastases in potentially resectable non-small-cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: Computed tomography (CT) and [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) are considered suitable methods for the noninvasive staging of the mediastinum. Our study was intended to estimate the efficacy of contrast-enhanced helical CT (hCT) and FDG-PET, alone and combined, in the diagnosis of lymph node mediastinal metastases. METHODS: This study was a prospective and blind comparison of the efficacy of hCT and FDG-PET with two alternative reference standards, mediastinoscopy, and mediastinoscopy plus thoracotomy plus a 6-month follow-up to diagnose lymph node mediastinal metastases in 132 consecutive patients with potentially resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The metastatic disease was assessed histopathologically. Further clinical information was obtained postoperatively after a median follow-up of 42 months. RESULTS: The prevalence of cN2,3 is 0.28. For hCT the sensitivity and specificity are 0.86 (95% CI, 0.70 to 0.93) and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.75), for PET 0.94 (95% CI, 0.81 to 0.98) and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.49 to 0.68), and for hCT and PET combined in-parallel 0.97 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.99) and 0.44 (95% CI, 0.34 to 0.53), which translate into a negative predicted probability of 0.98 (95% CI, 0.88 to 1.00). The crude diagnostic odds ratio of PET in the total sample studied is 13.1, in the subgroup hCT+ 11.04 (3.0 to 40 0.1), and in the hCT- 3.5 (0.5 to 21.5). Similar results were obtained for hCT stratified by PET. CONCLUSION: hCT and PET perform similarly in the mediastinal staging of NSCLC, both tests are conditionally dependent and provide complementary information, and their diagnostic value mainly resides on the negative results.     

PET-CT在三维适形放射治疗晚期胰腺癌中的应用

目的:评价PET-CT在三维适形放射治疗晚期胰腺癌中靶区勾画的价值及放疗后评价疗效的意义。方法:对13例晚期胰腺癌患者,采用PET-CT检查并定位,分别勾画出大体肿瘤体积CT-GTV和PET-CT-GTV,并分别制定出三维适形放射治疗的GTV进行比较。放疗后3个月行PET-CT复查。结果:13例患者的PET-CT-GTV和CT-GTV均不同,其中5例患者PET-CT-GTV较CT-GTV平均减少10.9cm3(25.7%)。CT-GTV平均42.4 cm3,PET-CT-GTV平均为31.5cm3(P=0.0045);8例患者的PET-CT-GTV较CT-GTV增加45.3%(27.4 cm3),CT-GTV平均为60.4 cm3,PET-CT-GTV平均为87.8 cm3(P=0.0000)。治疗后3个月PET-CT复查示:7例胰腺病灶较前明显缩小,局部FDG代谢明显减低或消失。其余6例病灶略缩小,FDG不同程度减低。治疗后的SUVmax变化范围为1.6-6.0,SUVmean变化范围为1.4-2.2。结论:采用PET-CT融合图像能够更好地提高靶区确定的精度及不确定性,最大限度减少不同勾画者之间的差异性。治疗前后局部病灶代谢活性的不同程度改变,对评价放疗疗效具有一定的指导意义。     

Interest in 18-FDG positron emission tomography in radiotherapy planning: example of lung cancer radiotherapy]

18 FDG positon emission tomography provides metabolic images and allows better local and metastatic staging than radiologic methods. A best cartography of node involvement and a best delineation of the tumor zone should allow an optimal radiotherapy. Lung cancer is a good example of the interest of this new method.