Repeatability of quantitative FDG-PET/CT and contrast enhanced CT in recurrent ovarian carcinoma: test retest measurements for tumor FDG uptake, diameter and volume

PURPOSE: Repeatability of baseline FDG-PET/CT measurements has not been tested in ovarian cancer. This dual-center, prospective study assessed variation in tumor FDG uptake, tumor diameter (TD) and tumor volume (TV) from sequential FDG-PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) in patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer.<p></p> EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Patients underwent two pre-treatment baseline FDG-PET/CT (n=21) and CECT (n=20) at 2 clinical sites with different PET/CT instruments. Patients were included if they had at least one target lesion (TL) in the abdomen with an SUV maximum (SUVmax) of ≥2.5 and a long axis diameter of ≥15mm. Two independent reading methods were used to evaluate repeatability of TD and SUV uptake: on site and at an imaging clinical research organization (CRO). TV reads were only performed by CRO. In each reading set, TLs were independently measured on sequential imaging.<p></p> RESULTS: Median time between FDG-PET/CT was 2 days (range 1-7). For site reads, concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) for SUVmean, SUVmax and TD were 0.95, 0.94 and 0.99 respectively. Repeatability coefficients were 16.3%, 17.3% and 8.8% for SUVmean, SUVmax and TD respectively. Similar results were observed for CRO reads. TV CCC was 0.99 with a repeatability coefficient of 28.1%.<p></p> CONCLUSIONS: There was excellent test/retest repeatability for FDG-PET/CT quantitative measurements across two sites and two independent reading methods. Cut-off values for determining change in SUVmean, SUVmax and TV establish limits to determine metabolic and/or volumetric response to treatment in platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer