[The role of PET in the diagnosis and prediction of the treatment response in patients with cervical carcinoma treated with radiotherapy--results of pilot study]. / Význam PET v diagnostice a predikci lécebné odpovedi karcinomu cervixu u pacientek lécených radioterapií--výsledky pilotní studie.

BACKGROUND: Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to distinguish between benign and malign tumours, to diagnose relapse or post-therapeutic changes and recentlyto predict treatment response. PET is also a complementary method to determine target volumes in radiotherapy. Using the PET in routine oncology practice can change disease management and improve treatment outcomes of cancer patients. We performed a pilot study to validate the role of PET in staging and in radiotherapy treatment planning of cervical carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between March 2005 and May 2007, 51 patients with cervical carcinoma were treated with combination of external beam radiotherapy and HDR brachytherapy, with or without concomitant cisplatin. The lymphatic nodes treatment field size was determined by PET/CT fusion. Treatment results were evaluated by PET 3 and 9 months after completion of radiotherapy. RESULTS: The difference in the results of PET and CT was evaluated in this study. In 32 cases (62.75%) the results of initial PET and CT were identical, in 14 cases (27.45%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to PET, in 5 cases (9.8%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to CT. Comparing the results of PET done before and 3 months after the treatment, we found stable disease in 3 cases (5.88%), progression of disease in 4 cases (7.84%), partial regression in 3 cases (5.88 %) and in 35 cases (68.63 %) both PET scans were negative. There should not occur any false positive results caused by inflammatory reaction persisting 3 months after radiotherapy, as was confirmed by repeating PET 9 months after the treatment. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirmed the important role of PET in diagnosis and treatment of cervical carcinoma and for determination of target volumes in radiotherapy. The predictive value of PET has not yet been validated in our study. PET was integrated into the standard staging of cervical carcinoma in Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute.

[The impact of PET in radiotherapy of the cervical carcinoma--results of pilot study]. / Význam PET v radioterapii karcinomu delozního hrdla--výsledky pilotní studie.

OBJECTIVE: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a complementary method to determine target volumes in radiotherapy. Daily using of PET in the oncology praxis can change treatment strategy and improve its outcome. Results of this pilot study show the role of PET in staging of cervical carcinoma and in the radiotherapeutic planning. METHODS: Between March 2005 and May 2007, 51 patients with cervical carcinoma were treated with combination of external beam radiotherapy and HDR brachytherapy, with or without concomitant cisplatin. The lymphatic nodes treatment field size was determined by PET/CT fusion. RESULTS: The difference in the results of PET and CT was evaluated in this study. In 32 cases (62.75%) the results of PET and CT were identical, in 14 cases (27.45%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to PET, in 5 cases (9.8%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to CT. PET results 3 months after treatment were as follows: in 3 cases (5.88%) stable disease, in 35 cases (68.63%) negative, in 4 cases (7.84%), progression of disease, in 3 cases (5.88%) partial regression. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirmed the important role of PET in diagnosis and treatment of cervical carcinoma and in determination of target volumes in radiotherapy. PET was found to be a standard staging examination of cervical carcinoma in Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute.

The impact of PET with 18FDG in radiotherapy treatment planning and in the prediction in patients with cervix carcinoma: results of pilot study.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to distinguish between benign and malign tumors, to diagnose relapse or post-therapeutic changes. Lately, PET is used to predict the treatment response. and also a complementary method to determine target volumes in radiotherapy. Daily using of PET in the oncology praxis can change treatment strategy and improve its outcome. Results of this pilot study show the role of PET with 8-F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)FDG) for staging of cervical carcinoma and in the radiotherapeutic planning. Between March 2005 and May 2007, 51 patients with cervical carcinoma were treated with combination of external beam radiotherapy and HDR brachytherapy, with or without concomitant cisplatin. The lymphatic nodes treatment field size was determined by PET/CT fusion. Treatment results were evaluated by PET 3 and 9 months after treatment. The differences in the results of PET and CT were evaluated in this study. In 32 cases (62.75%) the results of PET and CT were identical, in 14 cases (27.45%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to PET, in 5 cases (9.8%) the nodal involvement was more extensive according to CT. PET results 3 months after treatment were as follows: in 3 cases (5.88%) stable disease, in 35 cases (68.63 %) negative, in 4 cases (7.84%), progression of disease, in 3 cases (5.88 %) partial regression. There were no false positive results caused by inflammatory reaction persisting 3 months after radiotherapy, as was confirmed by repeating PET 9 months after treatment. The results of this study confirmed the important role of PET in diagnosis and treatment of cervical carcinoma and in determination of target volumes in radiotherapy. PET was found to be a standard staging examination of cervical carcinoma in Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute. The predictive value of PET has not yet been validated.