F-fluorothymidine (FLT)-PET and diffusion-weighted MRI for early response evaluation in patients with small cell lung cancer: a pilot study.

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive cancer often presenting in an advanced stage and prognosis is poor. Early response evaluation may have impact on the treatment strategy.

Aim: We evaluated F-fluorothymidine-(FLT)-PET/diffusion-weighted-(DW)-MRI early after treatment start to describe biological changes during therapy, the potential of early response evaluation, and the added value of FLT-PET/DW-MRI.