Early treatment response evaluation using FET PET compared to MRI in glioblastoma patients at first progression treated with bevacizumab plus lomustine

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Norbert Galldiks
  • Veronika Dunkl
  • Garry Ceccon
  • Caroline Tscherpel
  • Gabriele Stoffels
  • Law, Ian
  • Otto M. Henriksen
  • Aida Muhic
  • Hans S. Poulsen
  • Jan Steger
  • Elena K. Bauer
  • Philipp Lohmann
  • Matthias Schmidt
  • Nadim J. Shah
  • Gereon R. Fink
  • Karl Josef Langen

Background: The goal of this prospective study was to compare the value of both conventional MRI and O-(2-18F-fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (FET) PET for response evaluation in glioblastoma patients treated with bevacizumab plus lomustine (BEV/LOM) at first progression. Methods: After chemoradiation with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide, 21 IDH wild-type glioblastoma patients at first progression (age range, 33–75 years; MGMT promoter unmethylated, 81%) were treated with BEV/LOM. Contrast-enhanced MRI and FET-PET scans were performed at baseline and after 8–10 weeks. We obtained FET metabolic tumor volumes (MTV) and tumor/brain ratios. Threshold values of FET-PET parameters for treatment response were established by ROC analyses using the post-progression overall survival (OS) ≤/>9 months as the reference. MRI response assessment was based on RANO criteria. The predictive ability of FET-PET thresholds and MRI changes on early response assessment was evaluated subsequently concerning OS using uni- and multivariate survival estimates. Results: Early treatment response as assessed by RANO criteria was not predictive for an OS>9 months (P = 0.203), whereas relative reductions of all FET-PET parameters significantly predicted an OS>9 months (P < 0.05). The absolute MTV at follow-up enabled the most significant OS prediction (sensitivity, 85%; specificity, 88%; P = 0.001). Patients with an absolute MTV below 5 ml at follow-up survived significantly longer (12 vs. 6 months, P < 0.001), whereas early responders defined by RANO criteria lived only insignificantly longer (9 vs. 6 months; P = 0.072). The absolute MTV at follow-up remained significant in the multivariate survival analysis (P = 0.006). Conclusions: FET-PET appears to be useful for identifying responders to BEV/LOM early after treatment initiation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Volume45
Issue number13
Pages (from-to)2377-2386
Number of pages10
ISSN1619-7070
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Research areas

  • Amino acid PET, CCNU, Glioma, Treatment-related changes, Tumour relapse

ID: 218472698