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Program Information

Study of PET Response to HDR Brachytherapy of Rectal Cancer

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R Hobbs

R Hobbs*, Y Le , E Armour , J Efron , N Azad , R Wahl , S Gearhart , J Herman , Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Presentations

SU-E-J-270 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose:Dose-response studies in radiation therapy are typically using single response values for tumors across ensembles of tumors. Using the high dose rate (HDR) treatment plan dose grid and pre- and post-therapy FDG-PET images, we look for correlations between voxelized dose and FDG uptake response in individual tumors.

Methods:Fifteen patients were treated for localized rectal cancer using 192Ir HDR brachytherapy in conjunction with surgery. FDG-PET images were acquired before HDR therapy and 6-8 weeks after treatment (prior to surgery). Treatment planning was done on a commercial workstation and the dose grid was calculated. The two PETs and the treatment dose grid were registered to each other using non-rigid registration. The difference in PET SUV values before and after HDR was plotted versus absorbed radiation dose for each voxel. The voxels were then separated into bins for every 400 cGy of absorbed dose and the bin average values plotted similarly.

Results:Individual voxel doses did not correlate with PET response; however, when group into tumor sub-regions corresponding to dose bins, eighty percent of the patients showed a significant positive correlation (R2 > 0) between PET uptake difference in the targeted region and the absorbed dose.

Conclusion:By considering larger ensembles of voxels, such as organ average absorbed dose or the dose bins considered here, valuable information may be obtained. The dose-response correlations as measured by FDG-PET difference potentially underlines the importance of FDG-PET as a measure of response, as well as the value of voxelized information.


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