Purpose: Personalized treatment schemes are being systematically applied to ensure best treatment outcome in oncologic patients. This is true also for personalized dosimetry in transarterial radioembolization (TARE) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Precise and detailed volumetric and functional data derived from radiological and nuclear imaging methods are essential for personalized dosimetry. We sought to evaluate accuracy of dual-phase cone-beam CT (CBCT) in comparison to pre-treatment contrast-enhanced CT (CECT), and 99mTc-macroaggregated albumin-SPECT/CT ([99mTc]MAA SPECT/CT) to predict and assess the efficacy of TARE based on post-treatment 90Y PET/CT. Material and methods: Thirty consecutive patients with HCC treated with TARE were included. Intraprocedural dual-phase CBCT acquisition protocol was developed to distinguish tumor volume in the early arterial phase and perfused volume of non-affected liver in the late arterial phase. Volumetric data obtained from pre-treatment CECT, dual-phase CBCT and [99mTc]MAA SPECT/CT were compared to post-treatment 90Y PET/CT considered the standard reference. Treatment simulations for final calculated dose from the different imaging derived volumes were then compared to post-treatment 90Y PET/CT. Results: CBCT resulted as the most accurate method in predicting tumor- (R2 0.89) and perfused volumes (R2 0.84). Dosimetry prediction planning performed on derived volumes from the different methods did not show significant difference, yet highest concordance with 90Y PET/CT data was observed with dual-phase CBCT. Conclusion: Our study shows that dual-phase CBCT acquisition is a novel alternative method for correctly and safely administering more accurate and defined doses during TARE. clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT03981497.
Background/Objectives: Assessing treatment response in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) remains challenging. The multifactorial mechanism of action of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) further complicates response evaluation, particularly in the absence of standardized criteria. This study aimed to compare different imaging-based response assessment methods after PRRT and to explore their relationship with clinical outcomes, particularly progression-free survival (PFS). Methods: In this single-center retrospective study, we analyzed NET patients treated with PRRT between 2020 and 2024 who underwent [68Ga]Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT before and after therapy, with a minimum follow-up of 12 months. Five response criteria were evaluated: (a) Krenning Score changes; (b) adapted PERCIST criteria (MORE); (c) ZP-normalized parameter; (d) qualitative visual PET assessment; and (e) RECIST-based morphological response on contrast-enhanced CT. Imaging findings were correlated with clinical outcomes. Nonparametric analyses were performed using the MedCalc® software. Results: Thirty-one patients (median age 63 years; 17 males) with NET were evaluated after PRRT. Post-PRRT PET/CT was performed at a median of 3 months. Response rates varied across methods, with higher rates noted using functional imaging (MORE 66%, Visual PET 68%, ZP 70%) compared to RECIST (40%) and Krenning score (21%). After a median follow-up of 37 months, 58% of patients experienced disease progression. Although no significant association was found between the response criteria and progression (p > 0.05), functional imaging showed a trend toward better correlation with longer progression-free survival. Conclusions: Functional PET-based responsecriteria suggest association with progression-free survival compared to RECIST criteria and Krenning score changes. However, given the exploratory nature of the study and its methodological limitations, these observations should be considered hypothesis-generating only. They do not provide definitive evidence of superiority over established assessment methods and therefore should not be interpreted as practice-changing.