title: 18F-FDG PET/CT Reveals Disease Remission in a Patient With Ipilimumab-Refractory Advanced Melanoma Treated With Pembrolizumab.
abstract: Pembrolizumab is an anti-programmed cell death receptor 1 (anti-PD-1) antibody, recently approved for the treatment of ipilimumab-refractory metastatic melanoma. We report on a 49-year-old patient with unresectable metastatic melanoma initially treated with 4 cycles of ipilimumab. Because of demonstration of progressive disease on PET/CT, the patient was enrolled into a clinical trial of pembrolizumab. After completion of 4 cycles of pembrolizumab, the follow-up PET/CT scans performed early after and 7 months after the end of treatment exhibited complete disease remission, reflecting the potential role of the modality in treatment response evaluation of melanoma patients receiving anti-PD-1 therapy.
authors.affiliation: From the *Clinical Cooperation Unit Nuclear Medicine, German Cancer Research Center; †Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Skin Cancer Center; and ‡National Center for Tumor Diseases Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sachpekidis
authors.forename: Jessica C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hassel
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D000074324:Ipilimumab; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012074:Remission Induction; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000074324:Ipilimumab; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C582435:pembrolizumab