RESUMO
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the hypoxic status of nasopharyngeal carcinoma [NPC] before and after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy [3-D CRT] and the correlation between hypoxic changes and radiotherapy curative effects
Design: Retrospective study
Setting: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center; Guangzhou, China
Subjects: Routine techneyium-99m 4,9-diaza-3,3,10,10-tetramethyldodecan-2,11-dione dioxime [99mTc-HL91] single photon emission tomography [SPECT] of the nasopharynx and neck was performed before and after 3-D CRT in 38 patients with NPC
Interventions: An analysis of the target/non-target [T/N] value of the focus was performed
Main outcome measure: T/N value of the nasopharyngeal focus and neck
Results: The focus hypoxic examination of 32 of 38 patients was positive [84%]. T/N values for hypoxic status in the 32 patients with a positive nasopharyngeal focus and normal tissue were 1.89 +/- 0.95 and 1.18 +/- 0.36, respectively. The mean T/N values for NPC hypoxic focus before and after radiotherapy were significantly different among the 32 patients. The hypoxic status of the nasopharyngeal focus positively correlated with its response to radiotherapy. The correlation coefficient was 0.641
Conclusions: 99mTc-HL91 hypoxic imaging can reveal the hypoxic status of the NPC focus. The hypoxic status of NPC was closely correlated with the curative effect of 3-D CRT