Dr. Keedy Discusses Imaging Biomarkers in Osteosarcoma

Vicki Keedy, MD, assistant professor of medicine, clinical director, Sarcoma Program, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses a trial looking at quantitative imaging biomarkers of treatment response in osteosarcoma.

Keedy says neoadjuvant chemotherapy is important to the treatment of osteosarcoma and can be predictive and prognostic. However, patients are currently receiving 12-20 weeks of chemotherapy before surgery. Keedy says this means that patients could be receiving 4-5 months of chemotherapy without any benefit.

The goal of the study is to use DCE MRI, quantitative MRI, and FLT-PET early on to see if chemotherapy response can be predicted. In the future, Keedy hopes the results from this trial can be applied to determine whether switching therapies will be effective.