Impact Of Combined Pet/Ct On Radiotherapy Treatment Planning And Outcomes In Esophageal Cancer.

e15519Background: To date, there is no universally accepted method to accurately delineate the gross tumor volume (GTV) of primary esophageal cancer in patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT). This prospective study aims to determine the impact of PET/CT on RT planning and outcomes in patients with localized esophageal cancer. Methods: 57 eligible patients with localized esophageal cancer were recruited between June 2003 and May 2008. All underwent PET/CT scanning in the RT treatment position and received treatment planned using the PET/CT dataset. Of these, 13 (23%) had metastatic disease detected on PET and 3 patients had no radical RT, while another 3 patients had missing planning PET/CT data (excluded from planning component analysis). GTV was defined separately on PET/CT (GTV-PET) and CT (GTV-CT) data sets. A corresponding planning target volume (PTV) was generated for each patient. Volumetric and spatial analysis quantified the proportion of FDG-avid disease not included in CT-based volumes. Clinical ...