18F-FDG PET Imaging in the Evaluation of Treatment Response to New Chemotherapies beyond Imatinib for Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

Abstract EN

Aim.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) is a powerful tool for staging and defining “good responders” to chemotherapy in tumor setting.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are sarcoma involving gastrointestinal tract and may require a chemotherapy including imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor agent.

Some GIST patients become refractory to imatinib; therefore, other tyrosine kinase inhibitors or concomitant chemotherapy may be considered for treatment.

The aim of this paper is to assess if 18F-FDG PET imaging is a useful tool to evaluate treatment response to new chemotherapies beyond imatinib for GIST patients.

Methods.

We performed a review of the literature about the role of 18F-FDG PET in the evaluation of treatment response to new chemotherapies beyond imatinib for GIST patients.

Results and Conclusions.

18F-FDG PET seems to be able to assess therapy response earlier than computed tomography (CT) imaging in imatinib refractory GIST patients treated with other agents.

However, a dual modality PET-CT imaging is recommendable to achieve a better detection of all lesions.