Abstract
Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) plays an increasingly important role in radiotherapy, beyond staging and selection of patients. Especially for non-small cell lung cancer, FDG-PET has, in the majority of the patients, led to the safe decrease of radiotherapy volumes, enabling radiation dose escalation and, experimentally, redistribution of radiation doses within the tumor. In limited-disease small cell lung cancer, the role of FDG-PET is emerging. For primary brain tumors, PET based on amino acid tracers is currently the best choice, including high-grade glioma. This is especially true for low-grade gliomas, where most data are available for the use of 11C-MET (methionine) in radiation treatment planning. For esophageal cancer, the main advantage of FDG-PET is the detection of otherwise unrecognized lymph node metastases. In Hodgkin’s disease, FDG-PET is essential for involved-node irradiation and leads to decreased irradiation volumes while also decreasing geographic miss. FDG-PET’s major role in the treatment of cervical cancer with radiation lies in the detection of para-aortic nodes that can be encompassed in radiation fields. Besides for staging purposes, FDG-PET is not recommended for routine radiotherapy delineation purposes. It should be emphasized that using PET is only safe when adhering to strictly standardized protocols.
Zusammenfassung
Die Fluordesoxyglucose-Positronenemissionstomographie (FDG-PET) spielt eine zunehmende Bedeutung in der Strahlentherapie, neben der bereits etablierten Bedeutung für Tumorstaging und Patientenselektion. Insbesondere bei nichtkleinzelligen Lungenkarzinomen führt der Einsatz der FDG-PET in der Mehrzahl der Fälle zu einer unbedenklichen Abnahme des Strahlenvolumens, wodurch Dosiseskalationen und auf experimenteller Ebene selbst Dosisumverteilungen der Strahlendosis im Zielvolumen möglich werden. Bei kleinzelligen Lungenkarzinomen nimmt die Bedeutung der FDG-PET ebenfalls zu. Bei primären Hirntumoren stellt die Aminosäure-PET derzeit die beste Wahl dar, auch bei den hochgradigen Gliomen. Für die niedriggradigen Gliome favorisieren die meisten Daten den Einsatz von 11C-MET (Methionin) in der Strahlentherapieplanung. Beim Ösophaguskarzinom liegt der wesentliche Vorteil der FDG-PET in der Detektion von unerkannten Lymphknotenmetastasen. Beim Morbus Hodgkin ist die FDG-PET essentiell für die „involved-field“-Bestrahlung und führt zu einem reduzierten Strahlenvolumen bei gleichzeitig vermindertem Risko der geographischen Fehlbehandlung. Die bedeutendste Rolle der FDG-PET bei der Behandlung des Zervixkarzinoms liegt in der Detektion von paraaortalen Lymphknoten, die in das Bestrahlungsgebiet mit aufgenommen werden. Zusammenfassend wird die FDG-PET neben dem Einsatz beim primären Tumorstaging derzeit nicht für den Routineeinsatz bei der Einzeichnung des Zielvolumens in der Strahlentherapie empfohlen. Der Einsatz der FDG-PET sollte nur nach streng standardisierten Protokollen erfolgen.
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Lammering, G., De Ruysscher, D., van Baardwijk, A. et al. The Use of FDG-PET to Target Tumors by Radiotherapy. Strahlenther Onkol 186, 471–481 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-010-2150-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-010-2150-1