title: The Role of18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography for Predicting Pathologic Response After Induction Therapy for Thymic Epithelial Tumors.
abstract: We investigated the role of18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) in predicting the effect of induction therapy in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.
  
  
  
  Fourteen patients with thymic epithelial tumors who underwent PET-CT before and after induction therapy were retrospectively analyzed. The relationship between the change in the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in PET-CT, the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors and the pathologic response (Ef0, no necrosis of tumor cells; Ef1, some necrosis of tumor cells with more than one-third of viable tumor cells; Ef2, less than one-third of tumor cells were viable; and Ef3, no tumor cells were viable) was analyzed.
  
  
  
  The study cohort consisted of 5 males and 9 females. Nine of the patients had thymoma, and 5 had thymic carcinoma. The induction therapy included chemotherapy in 9 cases, chemoradiation therapy in 4 cases and radiation therapy in 1 case. Among the 8 patients with a pathologic response of Ef0/1, 5 were clinically evaluated as having stable disease (SD), while 3 were found to have had a partial response (PR). The SUVmaxwas elevated in 2 cases, unchanged in 1 and decreased in 5. On the other hand, 3 of the 6 patients with a pathologic response of Ef2, 3 were classified as having SD, while the other 3 had a PR. The SUVmaxdecreased in all of the patients.
  
  
  
  In comparison with CT, PET-CT seems to be useful for predicting the pathologic response to induction therapy in patients with thymic epithelial tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan. kfukumoto@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okasaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Shota
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hakiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ozeki
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological and Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013945:Thymoma / Q000628:therapy; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18