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Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 4/2016

01-04-2016 | Original Article

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of [18F]FDG and [18F]FAZA positron emission tomography of head and neck cancers and associations with HPV status and treatment outcome

Authors: Edward E. Graves, Rodney J. Hicks, David Binns, Mathias Bressel, Quynh-Thu Le, Lester Peters, Richard J. Young, Danny Rischin

Published in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Issue 4/2016

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Abstract

Purpose

While methods for imaging tumor hypoxia with positron emission tomography (PET) have been developed, optimal methods for interpreting and utilizing these datasets in the clinic remain unclear. In this study, we analyzed hypoxia PET images of head and neck cancer patients and compared imaging metrics with human papilloma virus (HPV) status and clinical outcome.

Methods

Forty-one patients treated as part of a phase III trial of the hypoxic cytotoxin tirapazamine (TROG 02.02) were imaged with PET using fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and fluoroazomycin arabinoside (FAZA). FDG and FAZA PET images were interpreted qualitatively and quantitatively, and compared with tumor T stage, HPV status, and treatment outcome using multivariate statistics.

Results

PET signals in the tumor and lymph nodes exhibited significant intra- and inter-patient variability. The FAZA hypoxic volume demonstrated a significant correlation with tumor T stage. PET-hypoxic tumors treated with cisplatin exhibited significantly worse treatment outcomes relative to PET-oxic tumors or PET-hypoxic tumors treated with tirapazamine.

Conclusion

Quantitative analysis of FAZA PET yielded metrics that correlated with clinical T stage and were capable of stratifying patient outcome. These results encourage further development of this technology, with particular emphasis on establishment of robust quantitative methods.
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Metadata
Title
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of [18F]FDG and [18F]FAZA positron emission tomography of head and neck cancers and associations with HPV status and treatment outcome
Authors
Edward E. Graves
Rodney J. Hicks
David Binns
Mathias Bressel
Quynh-Thu Le
Lester Peters
Richard J. Young
Danny Rischin
Publication date
01-04-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging / Issue 4/2016
Print ISSN: 1619-7070
Electronic ISSN: 1619-7089
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-015-3247-7

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