18F-FDG PET/CT for evaluation of metastases in nonsmall cell lung cancer on the efficacy of immunotherapy
Yawen Feng, Peng Wang, Yuqi Chen, Wenli Dai- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- General Medicine
Objective
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) metabolic parameters and clinical benefit and prognosis in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods
In total, 34 advanced NSCLC patients who received 18F-FDG PET/CT before immunotherapy were retrospectively included in this study. All patients were divided into two groups, the clinical benefit (CB) group and the no-clinical benefit (no-CB) group, based on the efficacy of evaluation after 6 months of treatment. Also clinical information, characteristics of metastases, survival, PD-L1 expression level and glucose metabolic parameters were evaluated.
Results
Finally, 24 patients were in the CB group, and 10 patients were in the no-CB group. There was a significant difference between the CB group and the no-CB group in TNM stages (
Conclusions
Metastatic lesion burden evaluated by 18F-FDG PET/ CT can predict response to immunotherapy in advanced NSCLC patients, in which lymph node metastasis lesion metabolic burden is a meaningful predictor, but a large multicenter trial is still needed to validate this conclusion.