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The Role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography for Predicting Pathologic Response After Induction Therapy for Thymic Epithelial Tumors

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Abstract

Background

We investigated the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) in predicting the effect of induction therapy in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.

Methods

Fourteen patients with thymic epithelial tumors who underwent PET-CT before and after induction therapy were retrospectively analyzed. The relationship between the change in the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in PET-CT, the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors and the pathologic response (Ef0, no necrosis of tumor cells; Ef1, some necrosis of tumor cells with more than one-third of viable tumor cells; Ef2, less than one-third of tumor cells were viable; and Ef3, no tumor cells were viable) was analyzed.

Results

The study cohort consisted of 5 males and 9 females. Nine of the patients had thymoma, and 5 had thymic carcinoma. The induction therapy included chemotherapy in 9 cases, chemoradiation therapy in 4 cases and radiation therapy in 1 case. Among the 8 patients with a pathologic response of Ef0/1, 5 were clinically evaluated as having stable disease (SD), while 3 were found to have had a partial response (PR). The SUVmax was elevated in 2 cases, unchanged in 1 and decreased in 5. On the other hand, 3 of the 6 patients with a pathologic response of Ef2, 3 were classified as having SD, while the other 3 had a PR. The SUVmax decreased in all of the patients.

Conclusions

In comparison with CT, PET-CT seems to be useful for predicting the pathologic response to induction therapy in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Hisashi Tateyama, MD, at the Department of Pathology, Clinical Laboratory, Kasugai Municipal Hospital, Kasugai, Japan, for providing the pathologic data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Koichi Fukumoto, Takayuki Fukui, Toshiki Okasaka, Koji Kawaguchi, Shota Nakamura, Shuhei Hakiri, Naoki Ozeki, Tomoshi Sugiyama & Kohei Yokoi

  2. Department of Radiological and Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Katsuhiko Kato

Authors
  1. Koichi Fukumoto
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  2. Takayuki Fukui
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  7. Naoki Ozeki
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  10. Kohei Yokoi
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Correspondence to Koichi Fukumoto.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest in association with the present study.

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Fukumoto, K., Fukui, T., Okasaka, T. et al. The Role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography for Predicting Pathologic Response After Induction Therapy for Thymic Epithelial Tumors. World J Surg 41, 1828–1833 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3938-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3938-2

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