Positron emission tomography with [(18)F]-3'-deoxy-3'fluorothymidine (FLT) as a predictor of outcome in patients with locally advanced resectable rectal cancer: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: This pilot study was performed to evaluate whether tumor uptake of (18)F-labeled 3'-deoxy-3'fluorothymidine (FLT), a proliferative radiotracer, at baseline and early during therapy, is predictive of outcome in locally advanced rectal cancer. PROCEDURES: Fourteen patients underwent positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and FLT before therapy and PET with FLT approximately 2 weeks after initiating neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. FLT and FDG uptake were evaluated qualitatively and by maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)). Tumor FLT and FDG uptake were correlated with disease-free survival (DFS).
RESULTS: Thirteen patients underwent surgery after therapy, one died before surgery with progressive disease. FDG-PET/computed tomography detected regional lymph node metastases in five and FLT-PET was positive in one. High pretherapy FDG uptake (SUV(max) ≥ 14.3), low during-therapy FLT uptake (SUV(max) < 2.2), and high percentage change in FLT uptake (≥60 %) were predictive of improved DFS (p < 0.05 for all three values).
CONCLUSION: Pretherapy FDG uptake, during-therapy FLT uptake, and percentage change in FLT uptake were equally predictive of DFS.