Background: To determine the optimal threshold of 18 F-fluorodexyglucose (18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography CT (PET/CT) images that generates the best volumetric match to internal gross target volume (IGTV) based on four-dimensional CT (4DCT) images.
Methods: Twenty patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) underwent enhanced three-dimensional CT (3DCT) scan followed by enhanced 4DCT scan of the thorax under normal free breathing with the administration of intravenous contrast agents. A total of 100 ml of ioversol was injected intravenously, 2 ml/s for 3DCT and 1 ml/s for 4DCT. Then 18 F-FDG PET/CT scan was performed based on the same positioning parameters (the same immobilization devices and identical position verified by laser localizer as well as skin marks). Gross target volumes (GTVs) of the primary tumor were contoured on the ten phases images of 4DCT to generate IGTV10. GTVPET were determined with eight different threshold using an auto-contouring function. The differences in the position, volume, concordance index (CI) and degree of inclusion (DI) of the targets between GTVPET and IGTV10 were compared.
Results: The images from seventeen patients were suitable for further analysis. Significant differences between the centric coordinate positions of GTVPET (excluding GTVPET15%) and IGTV10 were observed only in z axes (P < 0.05). GTVPET15%, GTVPET25% and GTVPET2.0 were not statistically different from IGTV10 (P < 0.05). GTVPET15% approximated closely to IGTV10 with median percentage volume changes of 4.86%. The best CI was between IGTV10 and GTVPET15% (0.57). The best DI of IGTV10 in GTVPET was IGTV10 in GTVPET15% (0.80).
Conclusion: None of the PET-based contours had both close spatial and volumetric approximation to the 4DCT IGTV10. At present 3D-PET/CT should not be used for IGTV generation.