Interim (18)FDG PET/CT during radiochemotherapy in the management of pelvic malignancies: A systematic review

摘要

F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT (F-18-FDG-PET/CT) is widely applied in oncology for disease staging, assessment of therapy response, relapse diagnosis, follow-up and target volume delineation. In particular, it can detect early response during chemoradiotherapy (interim) because functional modifications usually precede morphological ones. This ability is crucial to the radiation oncologist for the management of patients, to avoid persisting with ineffective therapy often leading toxicity and to shift to potentially more effective alternatives.