Avinash Kambadakone, MD, and his team scanned 22 patients with soft-tissue sarcomas using both standard and perfusion CT at baseline and after 10 days of treatment with the antiangiogenic bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) -- and again six weeks later after treatment with the antiangiogenic drug plus radiation therapy.
Two readers blinded to results measured tumor density and size. Ten days post-therapy they found significant changes in perfusion CT parameters (-17% to 30%) as well as tumor density (mean 16%). The differences were even more substantial following completion of the drug treatment plus radiation therapy. CT perfusion was a "robust surrogate" for monitoring early treatment response to antiangiogenic therapy, they said.
