Application of FDG-PET/CT in Radiation Oncology

Abstract

Positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), which combines the advantages of high sensitivity and specificity of PET and high resolution of CT, is a unique tool for cancer management. PET/CT has been widely used in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The article reviews the recent applications of PET/CT in radiation oncology, with a focus on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET/CT, addressing the applications in treatment planning and treatment response assessment of radiation therapy.

Task Group 174 Report: Utilization of [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography ([18F]FDG‐PET) in Radiation Therapy

“…23 The advantages of combined anatomic and functional imaging have led to widespread adoption of PET/CT in RT clinics. 24 The growth in the number of PET/CT scanners in the Unites States increased approximately tenfold in a decade, 25 from approximately 200 in 2001 to more than 2500 in 2013. 26 Approximately 4% of the PET procedures were for RT treatment planning.…”

“…Consequently, [ 18 F]FDG‐PET/CT‐guided RT planning has seen increasing use in head and neck cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, non‐Hodgkin’s lymphoma, gynecologic cancer, rectal cancer, and anal cancer . The advantages of combined anatomic and functional imaging have led to widespread adoption of PET/CT in RT clinics . The growth in the number of PET/CT scanners in the Unites States increased approximately tenfold in a decade, from approximately 200 in 2001 to more than 2500 in 2013 .…”

The Efficacy of Photobiomodulation Therapy in Improving Tissue Resilience and Healing of Radiation Skin Damage

“…µPET-CT with 18 F-FDG is a functional imaging approach that provides unique molecular and metabolic information of tissues and organs based on glucose uptake capacity [30,37]. There remain some clinical concerns of biological risk of these combined PET/CT imaging, but it is still considered a powerful tool for clinical diagnostics [37]. Most tumors and inflammatory lesions lesion have increased uptake of 18 F-FDG owing to enhanced glucose utilization [29,37].…”

“…There remain some clinical concerns of biological risk of these combined PET/CT imaging, but it is still considered a powerful tool for clinical diagnostics [37]. Most tumors and inflammatory lesions lesion have increased uptake of 18 F-FDG owing to enhanced glucose utilization [29,37]. More recently, several studies have examined the ability of 18 F-FDG uPET-CT imaging to assess radiation damage [38,39].…”

Combined pretreatment with 18F-FDG PET/CT and Comet assay guides the concurrent chemoradiotherapy of locally advanced cervical cancer: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Anatomical images lack the sensitivity to define tumor extent and the capacity to evaluate the biology of the tumor and normal tissue. Several studies have indicated that FDG-PET/CT increases the agreement between biopsies and delineated tumor volume and has the potential to impact the course of treatment [ 12 , 13 ]. In external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy, accurately defining disease areas is critical to avoiding normal tissue.…”