Acute radiation oesophagitis associated with 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose uptake on positron emission tomography/CT during chemo-radiation therapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Acute radiation oesophagitis (ARO) is frequently experienced by patients receiving concurrent chemo-radiation therapy (cCRT) for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We investigated ARO symptoms (CTCAE v3.0), radiation dose and oesophageal FDG PET/CT uptake. Method: Candidates received cCRT (60 Gy, 2 Gy/fx) and sequential FDG PET/CT (baseline FDG0, FDGwk2 and FDGwk4). Mean and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmean and SUVmax) and radiation dose (Omean and Omax) were calculated within the whole oesophagus and seven sub-regions (5–60 Gy). Results: Forty-four patients underwent FDG0 and FDGwk2, and 41 (93%) received FDGwk4, resulting in 129 PET/CT scans for analysis. Of 29 (66..