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Prognostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake before treatment for pharyngeal cancer

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Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an association found between overall survival of patients with pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and pretreatment [18F]-2-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake, which are assessed by positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET/CT). Next, we asked whether 18F-FDG uptake is correlated with overall survival in patients with pharyngeal SCC who underwent radical treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy in the multivariate analysis with adjustments for the clinical stage, primary site and treatment group.

Methods

Forty-nine patients who were newly diagnosed as resectable pharyngeal SCC underwent pretreatment 18F-FDG-PET/CT. We used the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) as 18F-FDG uptake. Overall survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method. Univariate survival analysis was analyzed by log-rank test, and multivariate survival analysis was performed by a Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

Patients with SUVmax of the primary site ≥8 significantly exhibited shorter overall survival in univariate analysis (p < 0.04). Moreover, SUVmax of the primary site ≥8 was a significant prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis (p < 0.03).

Conclusions

These results suggested that SUVmax of the primary site obtained by pretreatment 18F-FDG-PET/CT assessment is an important prognostic factor in patients with pharyngeal SCC.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24791821.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Hidenori Suzuki.

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Suzuki, H., Kato, K., Fujimoto, Y. et al. Prognostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake before treatment for pharyngeal cancer. Ann Nucl Med 28, 356–362 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-014-0817-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12149-014-0817-x

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