18F-FDG-PET/CT in initial staging and assessment of early response to chemotherapy of pediatric rhabdomyosarcomas

Abstract

This study confirms that 18F-FDG-PET/CT reveals important additional information at initial staging of pediatric RMS, which suggests a superior prognostic value of 18F-FDG-PET/CT in early response to chemotherapy assessment.

Rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck in children: Review and update

“…Sometimes second-look surgery may be needed for accurate determination. Early studies suggest that 18 FDG-PET may be more accurate at identifying response to therapy than conventional imaging modalities [15,16]. Future studies will be necessary to investigate whether 18 FDG-PET before and after treatment can help avoid second-look surgery, as well as improve survival of patients who fail primary treatment.…”

Combined positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for imaging of orbital tumours and tumours extending into the orbit

“…The child was symptomatic and presented with apparent exophthalmos and papilloedema implied neoplastic growth. For paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma, PET/CT has already been proven superior to conventional radiological evaluation in the detection of distant metastases17 and lymph node metastases18 and was superior in detecting objective response after chemotherapy compared with conventional imaging methods (92% vs 84%) 18. Whole-body (18F)-FDG PET/CT may be useful in detecting metastases of rhabdomyosarcoma that are not clinically evident and upstaging in comparison with MRI staging (lymph node and osseous metastases) has been reported previously 19.…”

Value of18F-FDG PET and PET/CT for Evaluation of Pediatric Malignancies

“…Therefore, future studies should evaluate earlier 18 F-FDG PET assessments of response in Ewing sarcomas. In rhabdomyosarcomas, 18 F-FDG PET/CT correctly identified tumor response in 92% of patients after 3 cycles of chemotherapy, compared with 84% with conventional modalities (including chest radiography, bone marrow biopsy, contrast-enhanced CT, and contrast-enhanced MR imaging) (79).…”

“…The presence of regional lymph node metastases is a strong prognostic factor in rhabdomyosarcoma patients (72,86). 18 F-FDG PET/CT was more sensitive (94%-100%) and more accurate (95%-100%) than conventional imaging (75%-94% and 49%-88%, respectively) for detection of lymph node metastases (71,79). Integrated 18 F-FDG PET/CT was also more accurate than 18 F-FDG PET alone (96% vs. 86%) (77).…”