THRIFT v1.2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Thyroid Cancer IMRT Planning Using 18F-Fluorothymidine PET CT: a pilot study
IRAS ID
123077
Contact name
Ujjal Mallick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the commonest endocrine malignancy but accounts for less than 1% of all malignancies. Management normally comprises surgery, radioiodine and thyroxine tablets. 10 year survival is > 80%. A minority develop local recurrence or metastatic disease and are treated with further surgery or radioiodine. A small number are suitable for radiotherapy and it is these patients we wish to study.
If radiotherapy is given with the intent of cure or local control, then Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) is recommended. This is a sophisticated technique of radiotherapy that can allow higher doses of radiotherapy to be delivered to some regions of a tumour and restricts doses delivered to normal tissues. Defining the area to be treated by radiotherapy is guided by CT images. Newer functional imaging techniques are being developed which look at the biology of a tumour. 18F-fluorothymidine (FLT) is a proliferative biomarker which accumulates in the excessively proliferating areas of a tumour and is seen on PET CT images. If a higher dose of radiotherapy is delivered to the increased areas of uptake, the treatment may be more effective. Side effects could be reduced by reducing the dose to healthy tissues. FLT Imaging studies are still in early phases. To our knowledge there is only one case report of FLT imaging of DTC so firstly we need to know if FLT can identify DTC.
The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of performing FLT PET CT scans in DTC patients who are due to receive radiotherapy. Simulated radiotherapy plans will be produced for each patient using the FLT PET to guide radiotherapy dose escalation. No patient will be treated with the simulated radiotherapy plans. Each patient will receive standard treatment. The dosimetric exercise will hopefully also generate useful information about doses to healthy structures.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NE/0144
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion