18FDG PET Assessment of Therapeutic Response in Patients with Advanced or Metastatic Melanoma Treated with First-Line Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In a retrospective study of patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma treated with first-line immune checkpoint inhibitors, we investigated the value of metabolic criteria, PERCIST 5 (criteria used for conventional chemotherapy), and imPERCIST5 (criteria adapted for immunotherapy therapeutic evaluation). Responding patients according to both criteria had better overall survival than that of not-responding patients, with a 2 years OS of 91% versus 39%, respectively. Combining different approaches to assess response could help improve the confidence in the test aiming at evaluating the response to immunotherapy. ABSTRACT: Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are currently the first-line treatment for patients with metastatic melanoma. We investigated the value of positron emission tomography (PET) response criteria to assess the therapeutic response to first-line ICI in this clinical context and explore the potential contribution of total tumor metabolic volume (TMTV) analysis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in patients treated with first-line ICI for advanced or metastatic melanoma, with 18F-FDG PET/CT performed at baseline and 3 months after starting treatment. Patients’ metabolic response was classified according to PERCIST5 and imPERCIST 5 criteria. TMTV was recorded for each examination. Results: Twenty-nine patients were included. The median overall survival (OS) was 51.2 months (IQR 13.6—not reached), and the OS rate at 2 years was 58.6%. Patients classified as responders (complete and partial response) had a 90.9% 2-year OS rate versus 38.9% for non-responders (stable disease and progressive disease) (p = 0.03), for PERCIST5 and imPERCIST 5 criteria. The median change in metabolic volume was 9.8% (IQR −59–+140%). No significant correlation between OS and changes in TMTV was found. Conclusion: The evaluation of response to immunotherapy using metabolic imaging with PERCIST5 and imPERCIST5 was significantly associated with OS in patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma.