Reduction of [(18)F]fluoromisonidazole uptake after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of tumor hypoxia as a result of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) by measuring the changes of [(18)F]fluoromisonidazole ([(18)F]FMISO) positron emission tomography (PET) uptake, as well as to look into the ability of [(18)F]FMISO PET to predict the NAC result.


METHODS
A total of 13 patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma underwent [(18)F]FMISO PET scans before and after NAC. For analysis of PET index, maximum standardized uptake value, tumor-to-muscle ratio, and hypoxic volume (HV) were measured.


RESULTS
All PET indexes of [(18)F]FMISO significantly decreased after NAC. Although HV in primary tumor and a few indexes before NAC in responder was lower than that in nonresponder, none of the indexes were statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Pretreatment [(18)F]FMISO could not predict NAC outcome in this study. However, [(18)F]FMISO uptake significantly decreased after NAC, and [(18)F]FMISO PET seemed to be a useful noninvasive tool for detecting hypoxia reduction after NAC.
Yamane
Tomohiko
T
Division of Molecular Imaging, Institution of Biomedical Research and Innovation, 2-2 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan. yamane@fbri.org
Kikuchi
Masahiro
M
Shinohara
Shogo
S
Senda
Michio
M
D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008920:Misonidazole / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; C031843:fluoromisonidazole; D008920:Misonidazole