PET Scanning to Predict Response to Chemotherapy in Head and Cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploratory study of the ability of 18F-FDG PET to predict response to palliative chemotherapy in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer
IRAS ID
184610
Contact name
John Chester
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Only a fraction of patients treated with chemotherapy will benefit. Being able to predict who will respond is a fundamental goal in cancer research and will enable treatments to be targeted to those most likely to benefit. Such predictive information would be useful to the clinician, the patient and their family ahead of decisions on treatment.
A potential way of predicting response is by a type of scan called 18-fludeoxyglucose (18F-FDG PET) positron emission tomography (PET). 18F-FDG PET exploits the fact that cancer cells uptake glucose more readily than normal cells. Patients are given a radioactive form of glucose and the18F-FDG PET scan identifies where in the body this accumulates. There is growing evidence that early loss of a tumour’s ability to accumulate glucose after chemotherapy predicts response.
We wish to investigate the use of 18F-FDG PET to predict response to chemotherapy in patients with advanced, incurable head and neck cancer. To design a definitive study we need some initial data. We plan to undertake an exploratory study to obtain this data. We will obtain18F-FDG PET scans before and 10-14 days after chemotherapy in 15 patients with advanced head and neck cancer. Response will be assessed after 12 weeks by CT scan. This exploratory study will provide an initial assessment of the ability of 18F-FDG PET scan to predict response and will inform the design of the larger, definitive study.REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0270
Date of REC Opinion
10 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion