ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: High tumor uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is associated with an unfavorable outcome in patients with cancer. We evaluated FDG uptake as a prognostic factor in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of tumor, liver, and pulmonary artery were recorded. Ratios of SUVmax from tumor to liver (T/L) and from tumor to pulmonary artery (T/PA) were calculated for each patient. Clinical data, tumor, and SUVmax ratios were compared with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Eighty-nine patients were included: 48 presented a local recurrent disease or distant metastases and 42 died. For both DFS and OS, tumor SUVmax value of 7 was the best cutoff value and 4 and 5 for T/L and T/PA ratios. Multivariate analysis confirmed the independent prognostic value of these 3 thresholds for DFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: FDG uptake has a significant and independent relationship with recurrence and survival.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnostic imaging , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/mortality , Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/pharmacokinetics , Head and Neck Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Head and Neck Neoplasms/mortality , Aged , Analysis of Variance , Biopsy, Needle , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/therapy , Cohort Studies , Disease Progression , Disease-Free Survival , Female , Head and Neck Neoplasms/pathology , Head and Neck Neoplasms/therapy , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Kaplan-Meier Estimate , Male , Middle Aged , Multimodal Imaging/methods , Multivariate Analysis , Neoplasm Invasiveness , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnostic imaging , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/mortality , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/pathology , Neoplasm Staging , Positron-Emission Tomography , Prognosis , Proportional Hazards Models , Radiopharmaceuticals/pharmacokinetics , Retrospective Studies , Sensitivity and Specificity , Statistics, Nonparametric , Survival Analysis , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: Posttreatment surveillance for the recurrence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a diagnostic challenge. Tissue distortion from radiation and surgery can obscure early detection of recurrence by conventional follow-up approaches such as physical examination, CT, and MRI. Several studies have shown that 18F-FDG PET may be an effective technique for the detection of persistent, recurrent, and distant metastatic HNSCC after treatment. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the benefits of hybrid 18F-FDG PET/CT in detecting a subclinical locoregional recurrence of HNSCC and distant metastases. The study patients were considered cured of HNSCC on the basis of 12 mo of negative findings on conventional follow-up. We also assessed the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in these patients. METHODS: Ninety-one patients cured of HNSCC without any clinical evidence of recurrence were included. Whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT examination was performed 11.6+/-4.4 mo after the end of the treatment. The gold standard was histopathology or 6 mo of imaging follow-up. RESULTS: The whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations had negative results in 52 patients and positive results in 39. Nine of these patients who exhibited abnormal 18F-FDG uptake in the head and neck area did not have recurrent HNSCC (false-positive). Thirty had proven recurrence. The sensitivity and specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT in this study for the diagnosis of HNSCC recurrence were 100% (30/30) and 85% (52/61), respectively. The positive predictive value was 77% (30/39). The negative predictive value was 100% (52/52). The overall accuracy was 90% (82/91). CONCLUSION: The results of our study confirm the high effectiveness of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the assessment of HNSCC recurrence and suggest that 18F-FDG PET/CT is more accurate than conventional follow-up physical examination alone in the assessment of recurrence after previous curative treatment for HNSCC and could be proposed systematically at 12 mo of the usual follow-up.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/therapy , Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 , Head and Neck Neoplasms/diagnosis , Head and Neck Neoplasms/therapy , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology , False Negative Reactions , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Head and Neck Neoplasms/pathology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Metastasis/diagnosis , Positron-Emission Tomography , Sensitivity and Specificity , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Studying subjects heterozygous for mutations of the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene may help clarify the impact on disease onset of CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein (CFTR-)-dependent chloride secretion. CFTR-mediated chloride transport was evaluated in 52 heterozygous subjects, 32 healthy control subjects, and 77 patients with CF with class I or II mutations. We measured the change in nasal potential difference in response to chloride-free isoproterenol solution for each subject and used a video-imaging fluorescent dye assay to assess the percentage of nasal ciliated cells with cAMP-dependent anion conductance. Our findings did not confirm the standard assumption that heterozygosity implies 50% of normal CFTR function. Half the heterozygous subjects had CFTR-mediated chloride transport levels below 50% of the normal range, and one-third had levels similar to those of the patients with CF. This reduced CFTR function was not associated with an elevated prevalence of CF-like symptoms in heterozygous subjects but was highly related to respiratory status in the patients with CF. These data suggest that CFTR-dependent chloride conductance does not directly modulate disease severity but may be part of a more global defect in patients with CF involving other CFTR functions or currently unknown modulatory factors.
Subject(s)
Chlorides/metabolism , Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator/genetics , Cystic Fibrosis/metabolism , Nasal Mucosa/metabolism , Cystic Fibrosis/genetics , Female , Heterozygote , Humans , Introns/genetics , Male , Membrane Potentials , MutationABSTRACT
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations of the gene encoding for the CFTR (CF transmembrane conductance regulator) protein. The most frequent mutation, the (Delta)F508 mutation, results in a defective cAMP-regulated chloride transport in the epithelial cells. The spectrum of clinical manifestations in patients bearing homozygous (Delta)F508 mutations can vary considerably, suggesting that, in the patients with a mild disease, CFTR could be partly functional. To test this hypothesis, we explored in nasal ciliated epithelial cells (NCC) of 9 control subjects and 23 (Delta)F508 homozygous patients the anion conductive pathway by a halide sensitive fluorescent dye assay SPQ (6-methoxy-N-3'-sulfopropylquinolinium) and the CFTR transcript levels by RT-PCR. As 50% represented the lowest fraction of the control subjects NCC demonstrating a cAMP-dependent conductance, a CF patient was considered as "cAMP responder" if at least 50% of the NCC tested displayed a cAMP-dependent conductive pathway. According to these criteria, 8 of the 23 patients were considered as cAMP responders. They had a significantly less severe disease considering the respiratory function and infectious status. The amount of CFTR mRNA did not differ between the control subjects and the patients. No statistical correlation could be found between the transcript level and the expression of a cAMP conductive pathway. This cAMP-dependent Cl(-) conductance detected in homozygous NCC could be due to a residual CFTR activity and may explain the mild phenotypes observed in some (Delta)F508 homozygous patients.
