Background and purpose

Longitudinal Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with hypoxia-specific radiotracers allows monitoring the time evolution of regions of increased radioresistance and may become fundamental in determining the radiochemotherapy outcome in Head-and-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of the hypoxic target volume on oxygen partial pressure maps (pO2-HTV) derived from 18FMISO-PET images acquired before and during radiochemotherapy and to uncover correlations between extent and severity of hypoxia and treatment outcome.

Material and methods

18FMISO-PET/CT images were acquired at three time points (before treatment start, in weeks two and five) for twenty-eight HNSCC patients treated with radiochemotherapy. The images were converted into pO2 maps and corresponding pO2-HTVs (pO2-HTV1, pO2-HTV2, pO2-HTV3) were contoured at 10 mmHg. Different parameters describing the pO2-HTV time evolution were considered, such as the percent and absolute difference between the pO2-HTVs (%HTVi,j and HTVi-HTVj with i,j = 1, 2, 3, respectively) and the slope of the linear regression curve fitting the pO2-HTVs in time. Correlations were sought between the pO2-HTV evolution parameters and loco-regional recurrence (LRR) using the Receiver Operating Characteristic method.

Results

The Area Under the Curve values for %HTV1,2, HTV1-HTV2, HTV1-HTV3 and the slope of the pO2-HTV linear regression curve were 0.75 (p = 0.04), 0.73 (p = 0.02), 0.73 (p = 0.02) and 0.75 (p = 0.007), respectively. Other parameter combinations were not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The pO2-HTV evolution during radiochemotherapy showed predictive value for LRR. The changes in the tumour hypoxia during the first two treatment weeks may be used for adaptive personalized treatment approaches.