A hybrid 18F-FDG positron emission tomography and computed tomography (18 F-FDG PET-CT) image can offer the functional and anatomic information simultaneously.Compared with conventional methods,such as CT,EUS,it has advantages in determining the TNM staging,especially in measuring the length of primary tumor and detecting the metastasis of distant lymph nodes and organs.Moreover,it can guide the treatment and evaluate therapeutic effect of esophageal carcinoma.

Objective To assess the accuracy (ACC),sensitivity (SEN),and specificity (SPE) of dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters in predicting the radiation pneumonitis (RP) using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Methods Complete clinical data of 118 non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with three-dimensional conformal and intensity-modulated radiotherapy plus chemotherapy were included.Chi-square and logistic regression were retrospectively applied to analyze the correlations between DVH parameters [relative lung volume received ≥ 5 Gy (V5),10 Gy (V10),13 Gy(V13),20 Gy (V20) and 30 Gy (V30) and mean lung dose (MLD)] and grade 2 (and above) RP defined by the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events,version 3.0.ROC curve was adopted to investigate the predictive ACC,SEN and SPE of potential DVH parameters associated with RP.Results Total lungs V5,V10,V13,V20 and MLD were all correlated to the development of RP (x2 =4.786,5.771,6.366,7.367 and 6.945,P ＜ 0.05) according to univariate analysis.However,total lungs V30,patient characteristics (age,sex,KPS,tumor location,pathology) and treatment factors (prescription dose,radiotherapy technique,chemotherapy method and timing) were not contributors to RP.Logistic regression showed that V20 of both lungs remains tight by associated with RP (x2 =10.96,OR =4.16,95％ CI 1.40 ～ 12.36,P ＜0.05),although significant colinearity was found between V20 and other DVH parameters (r =0.767-0.902,P ＜0.05).ROC curve confirmed that V20 of both lungs could act as a predictor for RP (Z =2.038,P ＜ 0.05).The predictive ACC,SEN,and SPE were 0.645 (95％ CI0.498-0.793),0.650 (95％ CI0.408-0.864),and 0.674 (95％ CI0.571-0.765),respectively.However,the positive predictive value was only 28.9％.Conclusions V20 of both lungs was correlated to the development of RP.It could act as a predictor for RP though the predictability is limited.

Objective To evaluate the treatment efficacy and treatment-related toxicity of late course accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy (LCAHRT) combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy (CHT) for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods A total of 46 patients with histologically confirmed ESCC,11 in the stage Ⅱa,3 in the stage Ⅱb,and 32 in the stage Ⅲ,underwent conventional fractioned radiation of 40 Gy in 20 fractions on the primary and metastatic lymph nodes,and high-risk lymph node drainage regions,and then the primary and metastatic lymph nodes were irradiated as boost with an additional dose of 19.6 Gy in 14 fractions (1.4 Gy twice a day),and the total prescribed dose was 59.6 Gy in 34 fractions.Two cycles of CHT were administered concurrently during the radiotherapy.The 1-,3-,and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates and local control rates (LCRs) were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method,and treatment-related toxicity was analyzed based on the RTOG and CTCAE criteria 3.0.Results All patients received the whole course of treatment.The median followup time was 34.4 months (6-67 months).The overall response rate was 91.3％ (42/46).The median OS was 38.5 months (95％ CI 29.6-47.4 months).The 1-,3-,and 5-year OS rates and LCRs were 78.6％,49.4％,and 39.9％,and 84.3％,68.2％,and 61.4％ respectively.The incidence of ≥ G3 radiationinduced esophagitis was 23.9％.Three kinds of serious (≥G3) hematologic toxicities were recorded,including leucopenia (26.1％),thrombocytopenia (13.0％),and anemia (10.9％).Esophagotracheal fistula was recorded in 2 patients (4.3％).Conclusion LCAHRT plus CTH can be favorable for the patients with locally advanced ESCC,however,the treatment-related toxicities may be serious.

Objective To assess the value of SPECT/CT lung perfusion imaging (SPECT/CT-LPI) in evaluation of the regional lung function and the correlation between lung perfusion defects (LPD) and the clinical findings in NSCLC patients.Methods A total of 48 NSCLC patients (43 males,5 females;average age 61.06 years) who underwent pulmonary function tests (PFT),CT and 99Tcm-MAA SPECT/CT-LPI from December 2006 to March 2013,were retrospectively studied.LPD were divided into four grades:grade 0 (no lung perfusion defect was identified),grade 1 (the area of lung perfusion defect (LPDA) was similar to the size of local tumor),grade 2 (the LPDA was larger than local tumor and extends to 1 pulmonary lobe),grade 3 (the LPDA exceeded 1 pulmonary lobe).x2 test,one-way analysis of variance and Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the correlation of the lung perfusion function and clinical findings.Results LPD were found in 44 patients (91.67％,44/48),including 18 with grade 1,15 with grade 2,11 with grade 3.The abnormal results of PFT were found in 16 patients (33.33％,16/ 48).The abnormal findings by SPECT/CT-LPI were more than that by PFT (x2=34.844,P＜0.01).The rates of LPD with grade ≥ 2 were significant different between patients with central lung cancer and those with peripheral lung cancer (x2 =8.392,P＜0.01),and between hilar lymph nodes positive group and negative group (x2=10.801,P＜0.01).The degree of LPD was related to tumor location (1 was assigned for central lung cancer,2 was assigned for peripheral lung cancer),tumor size (1 was assigned for maximum diameter ≤3.0 cm,2 was assigned for ＞3.0 cm and ≤5.0 cm,3 was assigned for ＞5.0 cm) and hilar lymph node (1 was assigned for with metastasis,0 was assigned for no metastasis) (Wald=8.176,5.352,10.100,all P＜0.05).Conclusions Compared with PFT,SPECT/CT-LPI has a more significant value in assessment of the regional lung function in NSCLC patients.Tumor location,tumor size and metastasis of hilar lymph nodes may be helpful for LPD grading.SPECT-LPI may be beneficial for patients with central lung cancer,large tumor and hilar lymph nodes metastasis.

OBJECTIVE:To study the influence of compound glycyrrhizin on hepatic fibrosis indices and cytokines in patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB).METHODS:84 patients with CHB were randomly divided into the treatment group(conventional liver protection+compound glycyrrhizin tablet) and control group(conventional liver protection).The serum levels of transforming growth factor-?1(TGF-?1),tumor necrosis factor-?(TNF-?),hyaluronic acid(HA),collagen type Ⅳ(C-Ⅳ) and laminin(LN) in those patients were measured by specific-ELISA and RIA before and after treatment.The serum levels in 20 healthy subjects were used as normal controls.RESULTS:The serum levels of HA,Ⅳ-C,LN,TGF-?1,TNF-? in patients with CHB were significantly higher than those in healthy subjects(P

Objective To compare 18 F-FDG PET/CT and electronic endoscopy for measuring the length of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to evaluate the optimal SUV threshold for contour determination of the size of the lesion.Methods Twenty-four patients (19 males and 5 females,median age:59 years) with histologically confirmed ESCC were enrolled.Three patients had stage Ⅱ,14 had stage Ⅲ and 7 had stage Ⅳ diseases.PET studies were performed before treatment.The length of ESCC was measured on FDG PET imaging using different SUV thresholds of 2.0 (L2.0),2.5 (L2.5),3.0 (L3.0),3.5 (L3.5),and 35％(L35),40％(L40),45％(L45),50％(L50),55％(L55) of SUVmax.The length of ESCC on PET imaging was compared with the length of gross tumor in vivo measured by electronic endoscopy (Lst) to determine the optimal threshold of SUV using paired t test.Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation.Results The SUVmax of primary tumor was 14.51±5.72 and the Lst was (5.27± 2.45) cm.The length was in a descending order of L2.0,L2.5,Lst,L3.0,L3.5,L35,L40,L45,L50 and L55 when using different criteria.There were significant differences between the Lst and the lengths measured on PET except those by L2.5 and L3.0((5.65±2.69) cm,(5.11±2.51) cm; t=-1.74 and 0.76,both P＞0.05).The lengths measured on PET by all criteria were significandy correlated with the Lst,respectively,with the better r values by L3.5(0.935),L2.5(0.920) and L3.0(0.919) (all P＜0.01).When SUVm~＜15,there were no significant differences between the Lst ((4.82±2.14) cm) and L2.5((4.95±2.76) cm),L3.0((4.45±2.50) cm) and L35((4.42±1.85) cm),respectively (t=-0.439,1.299,2.011,all P＞0.05).The best correlation (r=0.953,P＜0.05) was between Lst and Lz5.When SUVmax ≥ 15,there was no significant difference between Lst ((5.67±2.64) cm) and L3.0((6.11±2.61) cm; t=-0.897,P＞0.05; r=0.791,P＜ 0.05).Conclusions For better correlation of ESCC lesion size,it is suggested that the optimal threshold of SUV for contouring is 2.5 for tumor SUVmax＜15,and 3.0 for tumor SUVmax ≥ 15.A larger sampling size is needed for further confirmation or modification.

Objective To assess the efficacy and the adverse effects of improved late course accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy (LCAHRT) combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods 68 Patients with pathologically confirmed ESCC were enrolled.Conventional fractionation was implemented to 40 Gy/20 fractions,followed by LCAHRT delivered 2 fractions of 1.4 Gy with an interval of 6-8 hours per day to 14 fractions,thus the total dose was 59.6 Gy.Two cycles of cisplatin-based chemotherapy were administered concurrently,followed by two more cycles.The short-term efficacy of treatment,overall survival for 1-,3-,5-year,and treatment-related toxicity were evaluated.Results All patients successfully completed LCAHRT and the overall response rate was 91.6％ (62/68).The overall survival rate of 1-,3-,and 5-year was 75.5％,46.5％,22.7％,respectively.The incidence of radiation esophagitis (grade 3 or greater) was 26.4％,and no patients developed grade 3 or worse radiation pneumonitis.The radiation-induced skin injury were most of grade 0 or 1.Grade 3 of leucopenia and neutropenia were observed in 29.4％ and 7.4％ of patients,respectively,and grade 4 were both in 2.9％.During long-term follow-up,no esophageal stenosis and severe pulmonary fibrosis was developed except for two cases(2.9％)of esophageal mediastinal fistula.Conclusion Late course accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy yields promising long-term survival,with lower treatment-related toxicity for patients of locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective To compare the dosimetric characteristics of intensity-modulated arc therapy( IMAT ),fixed-gantry intensity-modulated radiotherapy ( IMRT ) and 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for the thoracic esophageal cancer.Methods A total of 15 patients with thoracic esophageal cancer were enrolled.3D-CRT,5-field IMRT( IMRT5 ),7-field IMRT( IMRT7 ),9-field IMRT ( IMRT9 ),single arc ( Arc1 ) and double arc ( Arc2 ) RapidArc plans were generated for each patient.All plans were prescribed 40 Gy in 20 fractions and 19.6 Gy in 14 fractions to PTV at 95％ isodose line.Results RapidArc and all IMRT treatment plans in dosimetric parameters of target volumes were obviously better compared to 3-dimentional conformal treatments( t =5.77,3.52,P ＜ 0.05 ).The result of V95 of PTV for 3D-CRT,IMRT5,IMRT7,IMRT9,Arc1 and Arc2 plans was 91.55 ±2.90,96.66 ±1.05,96.87 ± 1.23,96.81 ± 1.16,94.98 ± 1.41 and 95.93 ± 1.32,respectively.The best conformation index in PTV was observed in the RapidArc plans ( t =3.76,10.01,P ＜ 0.05 ),and the best homogeneity index in PTV was observed in the IMRT plans( t =3.93,3.37,P ＜ 0.05 ).In terms of organ sparing,no statistical difference was observed between IMRT and RapidArc plans( P ＞ 0.05 ),while 3D-CRT provided the lowest number of V1 cGy and V5 cGy for total lung.Compared with the IMRT treatment plans,the number of monitor units was lower in all 3D-CRT and RapidArc cases with differences of 75％.Conclusions All the IMRT and RapidArc plans could offer high quality treatment for patients.3D-CRT might show advantage in low-dose region to organs at risk.Compared with IMRT,no obvious advantage in PTV dosimetric parameters could be observed in RapidArc plans.

Objective To investigate the value of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) in predicting the progression-free survival (PFS)and overall survival (OS) of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after threedimensional (3D) radiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 98 ESCC patients,who underwent FDG PET-CT before 3D radiotherapy from 2004 to 2010,to investigate their 1-,3-,and 5-year PFS and OS rates.The relationship of maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax),mean SUV (SUVmean),metabolic target volume (MTV),length of primary tumor on PET-CT before radiotherapy,and number of tumors on PET with PFS and OS were analyzed.The SUVs and clinical data were analysed by independent samples t-test or Hotelling T2 test; the Kaplan-Meier method was used for calculating PFS and OS rates,and the Logrank test was used for survival difference analysis;the prognostic factors were analysed using the Cox proportional hazard model.Results The follow-up rate was 100％ ;56 patients were followed up for at least 3 years,and 27 for at 5 years.The SUVmax SUVmean and MTV of primary tumor,length of primary tumor on PET-CT before radiotherapy,and number of tumors on PET were correlated with PFS and OS (x2 =8.99-41.82,all P ＜ 0.01).The Cox regression analysis showed that PFS could be well predicted based on SUVmean (x2 =4.41,P =0.036,RR =1.398) and number of tumors on PET (x2 =6.79,P =0.009,RR =3.650) and that OS could be well predicted based on number of tumors on PET (x2 =5.03,P =0.025,RR =3.740).Conclusions When estimating the long-term response to precise radiotherapy in patients with ESCC,SUV mean and number of tumors on PET may be used to predict PFS,and number of tumors on PET may be used to predict OS.

Objective To investigate how much the patient setup accuracy for irradiation of head and neck cancer can be improved by online setup verification and offline setup verification using cone-beam computed tomography(CBCT), and the feasibility of image-guided adaptive correction procedure to reduce the PIN margin.Methods 16 patients of head-and-neck cancer treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT)or intensity modulated radiotherapy(IMRT)were investigated. The first online kV CBCT scan, rigid image registration, setup correction were performed before radiotherapy. The second kV CBCT scan were acquired immediately after treatment and analysis was performed as above. CBCT scans were acquired at two or three fractions weekly during the entire course of radiotherapy and CBCT online-guided correction data were recorded. The data was used to calculate the population-based CTV-PTV margins under the condition of non-correction, correction every fraction and compensation of the systematic setup error respectively. The number of initial images required to predict systematic setup error was evaluated with the permission of 0.5 mm residue error. Results Total of 320 sets of CBCT images were analyzed for 16 patients. Under the condition of non-correction, the margins required to account for total error are 5.7 mm,5.6 mm,and 7.3 mm in the left-right(X axis),cranio-eaudal(Y axis), and anterior-posterior (Z axis)directions respectively, when the tumor was corrected every fraction, the margins required to account for intrafraetion error are 1.7 mm,1.7 mm,and 2.3 mm in X, Y,and Z axis.To correct the systematic setup error,8 sets of CBCT images are adequate. After compensation for the effect of the systematic setup error, 2.7 mm,2.5 mm, and 3.6 mm PTV margins are necessary in X, Y, and Z axis respectively. Conclusions There exists some extent of setup error in head and neck 3D-CRT or IMRT.The on-line CBCT correction and the approach based on off-line adaptive correction both can be used to reduce the impact of setup error obviously, the required margins for the PTV was reduced accordingly.