Comparing PET and CT scans for measuring cat oral cancer tumors

Abstract

Feline oral squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most refractory feline malignancies. Most patients succumb due to failure in local tumor control. 2-(18) F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography ((18) F-FDG PET) is increasingly being used for veterinary oncology staging as it highlights areas with higher glucose metabolism. The goal of the current prospective study was to compare gross tumor volume measurements using (18) F-FDG PET vs. those using computed tomography (CT) for stereotactic radiation therapy planning in cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Twelve cats with confirmed oral squamous cell carcinoma underwent pretreatment (18) F-FDG PET/CT. Gross tumor volumes based on contrast-enhanced CT and (18) F-FDG PET were measured and compared among cats. Mean PET gross tumor volume was significantly smaller than mean CT gross tumor volume in the mandibular/maxillary squamous cell carcinoma group (n = 8, P = 0.002) and for the total number of patients (n = 12, P = 0.006), but not in the lingual/laryngeal group (n = 4, P = 0.57). Mismatch fraction analysis revealed that most of the lingual/laryngeal patients had a large region of high-(18) F-FDG activity outside of the CT gross tumor volume. This mismatch fraction was significantly greater in the lingual/laryngeal group than the mandibular/maxillary group (P = 0.028). The effect of poor spatial resolution of PET imaging was greater when the absolute tumor volume was small. Findings from this study indicated that (18) F-FDG PET warrants further investigation as a supplemental imaging modality in cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma because it detected regions of possible primary tumor that were not detected on CT images.