According to new research, advanced imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) scans demonstrates great potential to determine which patients with inoperable lung cancer possess more aggressive tumors and require additional treatment beyond standard chemotherapy/radiation therapy.
“Lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer in the United States. These findings have the potential to give cancer physicians a new tool to more effectively tailor treatments for patients with locally advanced lung cancer,” says principal study investigator Mitch Machtay, MD, Chairman of Radiation Oncology at UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “This cooperative group study determined that the PET scan can show us which patients have the most aggressive tumors, potentially enabling us to intensify their treatment.”
In this study, 251 stage III lung cancer patients at 60 cancer centers around the country had PET scans before and after a combined treatment regimen of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Researchers measured how quickly tumors absorbed a radioactive sugar molecule (FDG).
According to the study, the posttreatment scan was predictive for patients’ prognosis. Patients with high levels of FDG uptake after treatment possessed more aggressive tumors that were more likely to recur. Consequently, high standard uptake values for FDG in the primary tumor meant a greater rate of recurrence and a lower survival rate for patients.
“This is one of the largest studies of its kind to show that PET scans have great potential in predicting the prognosis for patients with inoperable lung cancer,” says Dr Machtay. “It supports the theory that PET scans add an important new dimension to a physician’s ability to determine which patients need additional cancer therapies to best manage their disease.”
Source: University Hospitals.