A new method to assess pulmonary changes using F-18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography for lung cancer patients following radiotherapy

摘要

Background: F-18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18-FDG-PET) may be used for assessing radiation induced alterations in the lung. However, there is a need to further develop methodologies to improve quantification. Using computed tomography (CT), a local structure method has been shown to be superior to conventional CT-based analysis. Here, we investigate whether the local structure method based on F-18-FDG-PET improves radiotherapy (RT) dose-response quantification for lung cancer patients.