(18)F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Can Quantify and Predict Esophageal Injury During Radiation Therapy.
We sought to investigate the ability of mid-treatment (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) studies to objectively and spatially quantify esophageal injury in vivo from radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer.



This retrospective study was approved by the local institutional review board, with written informed consent obtained before enrollment. We normalized (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET uptake to each patient's low-irradiated region (<5 Gy) of the esophagus, as a radiation response measure. Spatially localized metrics of normalized uptake (normalized standard uptake value [nSUV]) were derived for 79 patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer. We used nSUV metrics to classify esophagitis grade at the time of the PET study, as well as maximum severity by treatment completion, according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, using multivariate least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression and repeated 3-fold cross validation (training, validation, and test folds). This 3-fold cross-validation LASSO model procedure was used to predict toxicity progression from 43 asymptomatic patients during the PET study. Dose-volume metrics were also tested in both the multivariate classification and the symptom progression prediction analyses. Classification performance was quantified with the area under the curve (AUC) from receiver operating characteristic analysis on the test set from the 3-fold analyses.



Statistical analysis showed increasing nSUV is related to esophagitis severity. Axial-averaged maximum nSUV for 1 esophageal slice and esophageal length with at least 40% of axial-averaged nSUV both had AUCs of 0.85 for classifying grade 2 or higher esophagitis at the time of the PET study and AUCs of 0.91 and 0.92, respectively, for maximum grade 2 or higher by treatment completion. Symptom progression was predicted with an AUC of 0.75. Dose metrics performed poorly at classifying esophagitis (AUC of 0.52, grade 2 or higher mid treatment) or predicting symptom progression (AUC of 0.67).



Normalized uptake can objectively, locally, and noninvasively quantify esophagitis during radiation therapy and predict eventual symptoms from asymptomatic patients. Normalized uptake may provide patient-specific dose-response information not discernible from dose.
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas. Electronic address: jsniedzielski@mdanderson.org.
Joshua S
JS
Niedzielski
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas.
Jinzhong
J
Yang
Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Zhongxing
Z
Liao
Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Daniel R
DR
Gomez
Department of Biostatistics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Francesco
F
Stingo
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas.
Radhe
R
Mohan
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas.
Mary K
MK
Martel
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas.
Tina M
TM
Briere
Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; University of Texas Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston, Texas.
Laurence E
LE
Court
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000150:complications / Q000532:radiotherapy; D004941:Esophagitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D061089:Radiotherapy, Image-Guided / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
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