PET predicts chemotherapy responses in breast cancer patients

PET/CT with gallium-68 (Ga-68) FAPI radiotracer can predict responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients, according to a study published November 2 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. A team in Fuzhou, China, found that Ga-68 FAPI uptake on early PET/CT scans during chemotherapy indicated which patients were most likely to experience complete responses. This information can have a major impact on how patients are guided through treatment, according to the authors.“Ga-68 FAPI-PET/CT parameters can rapidly provide feedback on tumor changes after only two cycles of chemotherapy,” wrote first author Ling Chen, MD, of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, and colleagues.Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used to reduce tumors in patients to allow surgery or breast preservation and is also an important basis for adjusting follow-up adjuvant treatment plans, the authors explained.In recent years, F-18 FDG-PET/CT has emerged as an option to monitor responses to NAC in patients based on glucose metabolism detected in tumors. While this approach has high sensitivity, it has a relatively low specificity in predicting complete responses, they added.Conversely, Ga-68 FAPI is a relatively new radiotracer that binds to fibroblast activation protein (FAP) on the surface of cancer cells and has proven in early studies to be more specific than FDG tracer in these patients.To further explore this potential, the researchers tested the approach in 22 patients...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Clinical News Subspecialties Molecular Imaging Nuclear Medicine Breast Imaging Source Type: news