Factor analysis as a means of determining response to chemotherapy in patients with osteogenic sarcoma

The prognosis of localized osteogenic sarcoma (OS) has improved considerably since the introduction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. However, there is a subset of patients who do not show full benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy because of chemoresistance. The early identification of poor responders to chemotherapy during neoadjuvant therapy remains difficult. In order to evaluate the role of bone scintigraphy we report our experience of dynamic technetium-99m hydroxymethylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy in 19 cases of paediatric osteogenic sarcomas. Before the beginning of chemotherapy, a dynamic scan was recorded during 30 min followed by static images at 3 h. The procedure was repeated halfway through the course of chemotherapy (6th week). Histological grading of the response to chemotherapy was carried out in the 12th week, showing nine good responses and ten poor responses. Factor analysis of dynamic structures (FADS) applied to dynamic scans allowed us to identify three factors termed vascular, soft tissue and osseous factors. The effect of chemotherapy on each factor was evaluated. Using FADS we were able to detect all the poor histological responders with the combination of vascular and osseous factors. Six out of nine good histological responders were also classified as scintigraphic responders. FADS applied to dynamic bone scans allowed us to identify at an early stage all the poor histological responders to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This method may have clinical relevance for the therapeutic strategy in patients with OS.