FDG-PET predicts survival and distant metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: Oral oncology Vol. 45; no. 7; pp. 569 - 573
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Hidenori, Hasegawa, Yasuhisa, Terada, Akihiro, Hyodo, Ikuo, Nakashima, Tsutomu, Nishio, Masami, Tamaki, Tsuneo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - diagnostic imaging; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - metabolism; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - mortality; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - secondary; Disease-Free Survival; Distant metastasis; FDG-PET; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - pharmacokinetics; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Japan; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mouth Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Mouth Neoplasms - metabolism; Mouth Neoplasms - mortality; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Otolaryngology; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Prognosis; Radiopharmaceuticals - pharmacokinetics; Survival; Tumors; Upper respiratory tract, upper alimentary tract, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands: diseases, semeiology; FDG-PET; Distant metastasis; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Survival; Radionuclide study; Prognosis; Stomatology; ENT; Malignant tumor; Metastasis; Cancerology; Oral cavity disease; Positron emission tomography; Cancer; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 1368-8375; 1879-0593; 1879-0593
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2008.07.009

High [ 18F]-2-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-uptake of primary tumor, assessed by pretreatment positron emission tomography (PET), shows poor overall survival of patients after several therapies in various cancers. An association between FDG-uptake and distant metastasis-free survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has not been assessed so far. An objective of this study is to investigate an association between FDG-uptake and overall survival of OSCC patients, and to ask whether FDG-uptake is related with distant metastasis-free survival in OSCC. Twenty-four patients who underwent both pretreatment FDG-PET and radical surgery without preoperative therapy were enrolled. We used the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) as FDG-uptake. Overall survival, locoregional recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier method. In univariate survival analysis, patients with SUVmax ≧ 12 exhibited significance in both shorter 3-year overall survival ( p < 0.01) and distant metastasis-free survival ( p < 0.04) than patients with SUVmax < 12. Moreover, by Cox proportional hazards model of multivariate analysis, SUVmax ≧ 12 was found to be independent of clinical T and N categories, and exhibited significance in both shorter 3-year overall survival ( p < 0.02) and distant metastasis- free survival ( p < 0.05) than patients with SUVmax < 12. These results suggest that pretreatment FDG-PET is able to provide both non-invasive and effective information for identifying a high- or low-risk group of OSCC patients with distant metastasis.