title: Positron emission tomography as a surrogate marker for evaluation of treatment response in patients with desmoid tumors under therapy with imatinib.
abstract: We used 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F] fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) to evaluate patients with desmoid tumors undergoing therapy with imatinib. The study included 22 patients with progressive disease (PD) of a biopsy proven desmoid tumor treated orally with imatinib 800 mg daily. Patients were examined using PET prior to onset of therapy and during treatment. Restaging was performed in parallel using computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Outcome of 22 evaluable patients was as follows: five patients with partial response (PR); twelve patients with stable disease (SD) accounting for 77% with non-progressive disease; five patients showed PD. A 30% decrease of the mean average standardized uptake value (SUV) of sequential PET examinations could be demonstrated; no patient demonstrated a substantial increase in SUV. Patients with PR/SD were matched to a group of nonprogressive disease and tested versus PD. The initial average SUV and SUVmax seem to be candidates for a response prediction with an approximate P-value of 0.06553 and 0.07785, respectively. This is the first larger series of desmoid patients monitored using PET showing that early SUV changes may help to discriminate responders from nonresponders and, thus, to decide whether imatinib therapy should be continued.
authors.affiliation: Sarcoma Unit, ITM-Interdisciplinary Tumor Center Mannheim, Mannheim University Medical Center, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany. mail@berndkasper.de
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss
authors.forename: Lothar R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Pilz
authors.forename: Ludwig G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sachpekidis
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hohenberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001549:Benzamides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015415:Biomarkers; D005260:Female; D018222:Desmoid Tumors / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001549:Benzamides; D015415:Biomarkers; D010879:Piperazines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate