title: Association between serum tumor markers and metabolic tumor volume or total lesion glycolysis in patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between serum tumor markers and the metabolic tumor volume (MTV) or total lesion glycolysis (TLG), as determined by fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Data from 21 patients with recurrent SCLC were collected. The levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin 19 fragment 21-1 were measured at the time of the18F-FDG PET/CT examination. The MTV and TLG of all lesions were calculated. Pearson correlation analyses were used to estimate the correlations between NSE level and PET findings. Pearson correlation analyses showed that NSE was the only tumor marker to have a strong correlation with MTV or TLG (r=0.787, P<0.001; r=0.866, P<0.001, respectively). In patients with a normal NSE level, no correlation was found between NSE and MTV or TLG (r=0.018, P=0.958; r=-0.003, P=0.92, respectively), but a significant correlation was found in patients with an abnormal NSE level (r=0.789, P<0.01; r=0.872, P=0.01, respectively). Therefore, TLG and MTV may serve as sensitive markers of tumor burden in patients with recurrent SCLC, with TLG showing greater sensitivity. In patients with an abnormal NSE level, a higher NSE level indicates greater MTV and TLG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pengyue
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mengmeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xindong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ligang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250117, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jinming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: metabolic tumor volume; neuron-specific enolase; positron emission tomography; small cell lung cancer; total lesion glycolysis