The Predictive Value of Early In-Treatment 18 F-FDG PET/CT Response to Chemotherapy in Combination with Bevacizumab in Advanced Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT is potentially applicable to predict response to chemotherapy in combination with bevacizumab in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: In 25 patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC, ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT was performed before treatment and after 2 wk, at the end of the second week of first cycle carboplatin-paclitaxel and bevacizumab (CPB) treatment. Patients received up to a total of 4 cycles of CPB treatment. Maintenance treatment with bevacizumab monotherapy was continued until progressive disease without significant treatment-related toxicities of first-line treatment. In the case of progressive disease, bevacizumab was combined with erlotinib. SUV corrected for lean body mass (SUL and SUL _peak ) were obtained. PERCIST were used for response evaluation. These semiquantitative parameters were correlated with progression-free survival and overall survival (OS). Results: Metabolic response, defined by a significant reduction in SUL _peak of 30% or more after 2 wk of CPB, was predictive of progression-free survival and OS. For partial metabolic responders ( n = 19), the median OS was 22.8 mo. One-year and 2-y OS were 79% and 47%, respectively. Nonmetabolic responders ( n = 6) (stable metabolic disease or progressive disease) showed a median OS of 4.4 mo (1-y and 2-y OS was 33% and 0%, respectively) ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: ¹⁸ F-FDG PET/CT after 1 treatment cycle is predictive of outcome to first-line chemotherapy with bevacizumab in patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. This enables identification of patients at risk of treatment failure, permitting treatment alternatives such as early switch to a different therapy.
(© 2017 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)