Prediction of Prognosis to Concurrent Chemo-Radiotherapy by Standardized Uptake Value of 2-18F Fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-Glucose for Nasopharyngeal Carcinomas / 대한방사선종양학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To prospectively evaluate the use of positron emission tomography with the glucose analog fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) to predict disease-free survival (DFS) after concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in patients with non-disseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). MATERIASL AND METHODS: We studied 41 patients with non-disseminated NPC scheduled to undergo platinum- based CCRT were eligible for this study. Patients were studied by FDG-PET prior to the CCRT. FDG uptake of tumors were measured with the maximal standardized uptake value (SUV). RESULTS: Complete response rate was 100%. In ten patients who presented with any component of treatment failure, the median SUVmax was 8.55 (range 2.49~14.81) in any component of failure and the median SUVmax was 6.48 (range 2.31~26.07) in the remaining patients without any such failure. Patients having tumors with high FDG uptake had a significantly lower 3-year DFS (51% v 91%, P=0.0070) compared with patients having low uptake tumors. CONCLUSION: FDG uptake, as measured by the SUV, has potential value in predicting DFS in NPC treated by CCRT. High FDG uptake may be a useful parameter for identifying patients requiring more aggressive treatment approaches.