A recent study by Penn Medicine researchers has found that early imaging of cancer patients post-treatment can enhance treatment outcomes. The senior author of the study, Michael Farwell, MD at Penn Medicine, provided insights into this significant discovery.
Farwell emphasizes the importance of time in treating cancer and suggests that early imaging of tumors can improve how clinicians develop personalized treatment plans for each patient. He says, "Time is always valuable when treating cancer, and imaging tumors early can improve how clinicians develop personalized treatment plans for each patient." Farwell further explains that an early response seen on a patient's scan could potentially allow for therapy de-escalation or surgery avoidance. Conversely, if a patient isn't showing a response, it informs their care team to explore other treatment options which could better treat their cancer, reducing unnecessary side effects from an ineffective and costly treatment.
Immunotherapy is a common form of treatment for cancer patients. It triggers the body’s immune system to fight against the cancerous tumors. However, many people's bodies reject immunotherapy leading to damage to the patient’s hormones, skin, or stomach. To determine whether immunotherapy is effective for a particular patient, doctors take a scan to see if the treatment is shrinking the tumors or not. This information was revealed in a news release from Penn Medicine.
Scans are typically performed about three months after administering immunotherapy. However, in a recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research, Penn Medicine researchers observed the effects of conducting this scan earlier - just one week after treatment. They used an 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and computed tomography scan to observe nineteen melanoma patients one week after treatment had been implemented.
These earlier scans showed a metabolic response in fifty-five percent of the patients. This data enabled doctors to adjust treatments accordingly which improved patient survival rates. Time is crucial when working with cancer patients and immunotherapy; thus these earlier scans proved to be very beneficial for treatment, according to a news release from Penn Medicine.
Farwell shared his hopes for the future of this imaging technique. He said, "Our hope is that not only can this simple, accessible imaging technique accurately determine if immunotherapy will be effective early on, but also that it will help us better understand the biology of tumors and immunotherapy. As a next step, we are designing larger-scale studies to validate these findings and evaluate early FDG PET/CT imaging of tumor response in a variety of other cancer types and immunotherapy regimens, including cellular immunotherapies."
