Preoperative PET/CT standardized FDG uptake values of pelvic lymph nodes as a significant prognostic factor in patients with endometrial cancer

ESGO/ESTRO/ESP guidelines for the management of patients with endometrial carcinoma

A European consensus conference on endometrial carcinoma was held in 2014 to produce multidisciplinary evidence-based guidelines on selected questions. Given the large body of literature on the management of endometrial carcinoma published since 2014, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO), the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Society of Pathology (ESP) jointly decided to update these evidence-based guidelines and to cover new topics in order to improve the quality of care for women with endometrial carcinoma across Europe and worldwide. ESGO/ESTRO/ESP nominated an international multidisciplinary development group consisting of practicing clinicians and researchers who have demonstrated leadership and expertise in the care and research of endometrial carcinoma (27 experts across Europe). To ensure that the guidelines are evidence-based, the literature published since 2014, identified from a systematic search was reviewed and critically appraised. In the absence of any clear scientific evidence, judgment was based on the professional experience and consensus of the development group. The guidelines are thus based on the best available evidence and expert agreement. Prior to publication, the guidelines were reviewed by 191 independent international practitioners in cancer care delivery and patient representatives. The guidelines comprehensively cover endometrial carcinoma staging, definition of prognostic risk groups integrating molecular markers, pre- and intra-operative work-up, fertility preservation, management for early, advanced, metastatic, and recurrent disease and palliative treatment. Principles of radiotherapy and pathological evaluation are also defined.

ESGO/ESTRO/ESP Guidelines for the management of patients with endometrial carcinoma

A European consensus conference on endometrial carcinoma was held in 2014 to produce multidisciplinary evidence-based guidelines on selected questions. Given the large body of literature on the management of endometrial carcinoma published since 2014, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO), the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Society of Pathology (ESP) jointly decided to update these evidence-based guidelines and to cover new topics in order to improve the quality of care for women with endometrial carcinoma across Europe and worldwide. ESGO/ESTRO/ESP nominated an international multidisciplinary development group consisting of practicing clinicians and researchers who have demonstrated leadership and expertise in the care and research of endometrial carcinoma (27 experts across Europe). To ensure that the guidelines are evidence-based, the literature published since 2014, identified from a systematic search was reviewed and critically appraised. In the absence of any clear scientific evidence, judgment was based on the professional experience and consensus of the development group. The guidelines are thus based on the best available evidence and expert agreement. Prior to publication, the guidelines were reviewed by 191 independent international practitioners in cancer care delivery and patient representatives. The guidelines comprehensively cover endometrial carcinoma staging, definition of prognostic risk groups integrating molecular markers, pre- and intra-operative work-up, fertility preservation, management for early, advanced, metastatic, and recurrent disease and palliative treatment. Principles of radiotherapy and pathological evaluation are also defined.

ESGO/ESTRO/ESP guidelines for the management of patients with endometrial carcinoma

A European consensus conference on endometrial carcinoma was held in 2014 to produce multi-disciplinary evidence-based guidelines on selected questions. Given the large body of literature on the management of endometrial carcinoma published since 2014, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO), the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and the European Society of Pathology (ESP) jointly decided to update these evidence-based guidelines and to cover new topics in order to improve the quality of care for women with endometrial carcinoma across Europe and worldwide.

Clinical and prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in recurrent endometrial carcinoma

PURPOSE

Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is a cancer with a good overall prognosis, except in cases of recurrent or advanced EC. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance, the prognostic value and the impact on therapeutic management of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT in suspected recurrent EC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated 157 patients with histologically proven EC and restaging ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT for suspected recurrence. The PET images were analyzed visually and semi-quantitatively by measuring SUVmax, MTV and TLG. A combination of clinical/imaging follow-up and/or histopathology was taken as reference standard. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were computed using Kaplan-Meier curves.

RESULTS

Seventy-nine patients had positive ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT showing the presence of at least one hypermetabolic lesion consistent with recurrence, while the remaining 78 were negative. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT were 96%, 99%, 99%, 96%, 97%, respectively, and were higher compared to conventional imaging: 97%, 62%, 72%, 96%, 80%. After a mean follow-up of 39months, relapse/progression occurred in 58 patients and death in 37 with an average time of 22.1 and 27.6months, respectively. A positive ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and advanced FIGO stage were significantly associated with shorter PFS and OS. PET/CT results had a significant impact on therapeutic approach in 33 patients: avoiding unnecessary therapies in 28 and modifying therapy in 5.

CONCLUSIONS

¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT has a very good diagnostic performance in patients with suspected recurrent EC and has an important prognostic value in assessing PFS and OS. Moreover, PET/CT allowed for a change in treatment decision in about 20% of cases.

Prognostic implication of the metastatic lesion-to-ovarian cancer standardised uptake value ratio in advanced serous epithelial ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the prognostic value of metabolic activity of metastatic lesions measured by ¹⁸F-flurodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) uptake on preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in patients with advanced serous epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

METHODS

Clinico-pathological variables and PET/CT parameters such as the maximum standardised uptake value of the ovarian cancer (SUV_ovary), metastatic lesions (SUV_meta), and the metastatic lesion-to-ovarian cancer standardised uptake value ratio (SUV_meta/SUV_ovary) were assessed in International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III, IV patients.

RESULTS

Clinico-pathological data were retrospectively reviewed for 94 eligible patients. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 18.5 months (range, 6-90 months), and 57 (60.6%) patients experienced recurrence. Older age [P = 0.017, hazard ratio (HR) 1.036, 95% CI 1.006-1.066], residual disease after surgery (P = 0.024, HR 1.907, 95% CI 1.087-3.346), and high SUV_meta/SUV_ovary (P = 0.019, HR 2.321, 95% CI 1.148-4.692) were independent risk factors of recurrence. Patients with high SUV_meta/SUV_ovary showed a significantly worse PFS than those with low SUV_meta/SUV_ovary (P = 0.007, log-rank test).

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative SUV_meta/SUV_ovary was significantly associated with recurrence and has an incremental prognostic value for PFS in patients with advanced serous EOC.

KEY POINTS

• The prognostic value of the metabolic activity of metastatic lesions was investigated. • SUV_meta/SUV_ovary was significantly associated with recurrence of serous EOC. • Preoperative SUV_meta/SUV_ovary can be a predicator of serous EOC recurrence.

High Diagnostic Value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Endometrial Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of (18)F-FDG PET/CT for the preoperative assessment of lymph node metastases (LNM) in endometrial cancer patients and for the assessment of endometrial cancer recurrence (ECR) after primary surgical treatment.

METHODS

A comprehensive search was performed on Pubmed/MEDLINE databases for studies reporting the diagnostic performance of (18)F-FDG PET/CT for assessment of LNM and ECR published up to August 15, 2015. Twenty-one studies (13 for LNM and 8 for ECR) were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio of the (18)F-FDG PET/CT were calculated along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A summary receiver-operating-characteristics curve (SROC) was constructed, and the area under the SROC curve (AUC) was determined along with Q* index.

RESULTS

The overall pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and AUC (with 95% CI) of (18)F-FDG PET/CT for detection of LNM were 0.72 (95% CI, 0.63-0.80), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.93-0.96), 10.9 (95% CI, 7.9-15.1), 0.36 (95% CI, 0.27-0.48), 39.7 (95% CI, 21.4-73.6), and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.85-0.99), respectively, whereas the corresponding numbers for detection of ECR were 0.95 (95% CI, 0.91-0.98), 0.91 (95% CI, 0.86-0.94), 8.8 (95% CI, 6.0-12.7), 0.08 (95% CI, 0.05-0.15), 171.7 (95% CI, 67.9-434.3), and 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.98), respectively. The overall diagnostic accuracy (Q* index) in LNM and ECR were 0.88 and 0.93, respectively.

CONCLUSION

(18)F-FDG PET/CT has an excellent diagnostic performance for detecting LNM preoperatively and disease recurrence postoperatively in endometrial cancer patients.

Preoperative Standardized Uptake Value of Metastatic Lymph Nodes Measured by 18F-FDG PET/CT Improves the Prediction of Prognosis in Gastric Cancer

This study assessed whether preoperative maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) measured by F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) could improve the prediction of prognosis in gastric cancer.One hundred fifty-one patients with gastric cancer and pathologically confirmed LN involvement who had undergone preoperative F-FDG PET/CT prior to curative surgical resection were retrospectively enrolled. To obtain nodal SUVmax, a transaxial image representing the highest F-FDG uptake was carefully selected, and a region of interest was manually drawn on the highest F-FDG accumulating LN. Conventional prognostic parameters and PET findings (primary tumor and nodal SUVmax) were analyzed for prediction of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). Furthermore, prognostic accuracy of survival models was assessed using c-statistics.Of the 151 patients, 38 (25%) experienced recurrence and 34 (23%) died during follow-up (median follow-up, 48 months; range, 5-74 months). Twenty-seven patients (18%) showed positive F-FDG nodal uptake (range, 2.0-22.6). In these 27 patients, a receiver-operating characteristic curve demonstrated a nodal SUVmax of 2.8 to be the optimal cutoff for predicting RFS and OS. The univariate and multivariate analyses showed that nodal SUVmax (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.71, P < 0.0001), pathologic N (pN) stage (HR = 2.58, P = 0.0058), and pathologic T (pT) stage (HR = 1.77, P = 0.0191) were independent prognostic factors for RFS. Also, nodal SUVmax (HR = 2.80, P < 0.0001) and pN stage (HR = 2.28, P = 0.0222) were independent prognostic factors for OS. A predictive survival model incorporating conventional risk factors (pT/pN stage) gave a c-statistic of 0.833 for RFS and 0.827 for OS, whereas a model combination of nodal SUVmax with pT/pN stage gave a c-statistic of 0.871 for RFS (P = 0.0355) and 0.877 for OS (P = 0.0313).Nodal SUVmax measured by preoperative F-FDG PET/CT is an independent prognostic factor for RFS and OS. Combining nodal SUVmax with pT/pN staging can improve survival prediction precision in patients with gastric cancer.

Value of (18)F-FDG PET/CT and MRI in diagnosing primary endometrial small cell carcinoma

Primary small cell carcinoma (SCC) is a group of aggressive neoplasms that mainly arise from the lung and digestive tract. Endometrial small cell carcinoma (ESCC) is extremely rare. To our knowledge, less than 90 cases have been reported, and most of these reports were dedicated to describing the clinicopathologic or immunochemical features of ESCC. Herein, we present a new case of ESCC involving a 51-year-old woman and mainly focus on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) findings. MRI showed that the uterus was significantly enlarged (11.6 cm × 11.1 cm × 14.4 cm), and a giant irregular mass (7.5 cm × 8.4 cm × 8.5 cm) was observed in the uterine cavity. The lesion demonstrated an extremely low apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value [(0.553±0.088)×10(-3) mm(2)/s] and a high FDG uptake value (22.7). Multiple metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) were identified at different positions, with diameters ranging from 0.3 to 2.8 cm and a maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) ranging from 6.9 to 19.3.