Changes in post-treatment cardiac PET avidity predict overall survival in lung cancer patients treated with chemoradiation: Secondary analysis of the ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235 clinical trial

• Authors: Ryan Miller, Thomas Jefferson University; Tess Santangelo, University of Colorado; Farnoush Forghani-Arani, University of Colorado; Chad Rusthoven, University of Colorado; Yingxuan Chen, Thomas Jefferson University; Edward Castillo, University of Texas; Richard Castillo, Emory University; Thomas Guerrero, Beaumont Health System; Yevganiy Vinogradskiy, Thomas Jefferson University
• Journal Title: RADIOTHERAPY AND ONCOLOGY
• Volume: Volume 171
• Publisher: ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | 2022-04-19, Pages 22-24
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2022.04.003
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Oncology; Health Sciences, Radiology
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Oncology; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging; Lung cancer; Functional imaging; Cardiac toxicity; POSITRON-EMISSION-TOMOGRAPHY; RADIATION PNEUMONITIS; HEART-DISEASE; THERAPY; RISK; UTILITY

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to use data from a large co-operative group trial to evaluate whether metabolic FDG-PET changes in the heart for lung cancer patients can predict for clinical outcomes. The study found that cardiac SUV changes following definitive chemoradiation are significantly (HR 0.811, 95% CI 0.68–0.96, p = 0.017) associated with overall survival in locally advanced NSCLC patients. If validated in a prospective cohort, our data show the potential for cardiac metabolic changes to be an early predictor for clinical outcomes.