The impact of time between staging PET/CT and definitive chemo-radiation on target volumes and survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Background and purpose: To investigate the impact of treatment delays on radiation therapy (RT) target volumes and overall survival (OS) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent two baseline FDG PET/CT scans. Material and methods: Patients underwent a staging (PET1) and RT planning (PET2) FDG PET/CT scan. At PET1 all patients were eligible for radical chemo-RT. OS and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared for patients remaining eligible for radical RT and those treated palliatively because PET2 showed progression. RT target volumes were contoured using PET1 and PET2. Normal tissue doses were compared for patients remaining eligible for radical RT. Results: Ei..