Early response monitoring of neoadjuvant chemotherapy using [ 18 F]FDG PET can predict the clinical outcome of extremity osteosarcoma

Background To propose a personalized therapeutic approach in osteosarcoma treatment, we assessed whether sequential [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT (PET/CT) could predict the outcome of patients with osteosarcoma of the extremities after one cycle and two cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods A total of 73 patients with AJCC stage II extremity osteosarcoma treated with 2 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed in this study. All patients underwent PET/CT before (PET0), after 1 cycle (PET1), and after the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (PET2), respectively. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ) (corrected for body weight) and the % changes of SUV max were calculated, and histological responses were evaluated after surgery. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses and the Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze whether imaging and clinicopathologic parameters could predict event-free survival (EFS). Results A total of 36 patients (49.3%) exhibited a poor histologic response and 17 patients (23.3%) showed events (metastasis in 15 and local recurrence in 2). SUV max on PET2 (SUV2), the percentage change of SUV max between PET0 and PET1 (Δ%SUV01), and between PET0 and PET2 (Δ%SUV02) most accurately predicted events using the ROC curve analysis. SUV2 (relative risk, 8.86; 95% CI, 2.25–34.93), Δ%SUV01 (relative risk, 5.97; 95% CI, 1.47–24.25), and Δ%SUV02 (relative risk, 6.00; 95% CI, 1.16–30.91) were independent predicting factors for EFS with multivariate analysis. Patients with SUV2 over 5.9 or Δ%SUV01 over − 39.8% or Δ%SUV02 over − 54.1% showed worse EFS rates than others ( p < 0.05). Conclusions PET evaluation after 1 cycle of presurgical chemotherapy can predict the clinical outcome of extremity osteosarcoma. [ 18 F]FDG PET, which shows a potential role in the early evaluation of the modification of timing of local control, can be a useful modality for early response monitoring of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.