¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Guide Personal Definitive Radiotherapy Dose Of Metastatic Lymph Node In Patients Of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background and Purpose:To evaluate the feasibility of¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT to predict clinical response of metastatic lymph node?mLN?to definitive chemoradiotherapy?dCRT?and guide personalized radiation dose in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma?ESCC?patients.Material and Methods:One hundred and forty three mLNs from 59 patients with ESCC treated dCRT having a pretreatment¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT scan were included the study.All defined mLNs were contoured by nuclear medicine radiologists.Response was evaluated by contrast-enhanced CT and¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT.Results:Sixty-nine mLNs got CR and 74 mLNs are non-CR.The FDG uptake values of143 mLNs were divided into 4 groups by quartiles of SUVmax and MTV that is from Group1 to Group 4.For SUVmax,CR rate of Group 2 was significantly higher than other 3 groups.And escalated dose can improve CR rate for patients in Group 3?55Gy?and Group 4?61 Gy?.For MTV,the lowest CR rate was found in group 4?the largest MTV?.Escalated dose?59.7Gy?can improve CR rate of lymph node in Group 3-4.Conclusions:Pre-treatment metabolic parameters can predict response of mLNs to dCRT for patients with ESCC.And the parameters could be used to guide personalized dose to mLNs.