The use of positron emission tomography in soft tissue sarcoma patients under therapy with trabectedin.
BACKGROUND
We used 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F] fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) to evaluate the FDG uptake in patients with advanced and/or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) undergoing therapy with Ecteinascidin-743 (ET-743, Trabectedin, Yondelis).


METHODS
The pilot study included nine patients with metastatic STS receiving a minimum of one cycle of treatment with trabectedin. Patients were examined using PET prior to onset of therapy and after completion of one or three cycles of trabectedin. Restaging according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) was performed in parallel using computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and served for reference.


RESULTS
clinical outcome of nine evaluable patients was as follows: one patient with partial remission (PR), three patients with stable disease (SD), and five patients with progressive disease (PD). A more than 40% decrease of the standardized uptake value (SUV) of sequential PET examination could be demonstrated for the responding patient (PR), whereas patients with SD or PD showed a stable SUV, but no increase in SUV.


CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first small series of patients being treated with trabectedin and monitored using sequential PET imaging demonstrating SUV stabilization in nearly all monitored patients.
Department of Internal Medicine V, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 410, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Bernd
B
Kasper
Thomas
T
Schmitt
Patrick
P
Wuchter
Antonia
A
Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss
Anthony D
AD
Ho
Gerlinde
G
Egerer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004149:Dioxoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D044005:Tetrahydroisoquinolines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D000077606:Trabectedin; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; D004149:Dioxoles; D044005:Tetrahydroisoquinolines; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D000077606:Trabectedin