FDG-PET/CT predicts survival and lung metastasis of hypopharyngeal cancer in a multi-institutional retrospective study

OBJECTIVES

We investigated a possible correlation between the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV_max), which is assessed by pretreatment ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography, and the overall survival (OS) in patients with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma from two institutions on long-term follow-up, and examined whether SUV_max is correlated with several survival outcomes, including lung metastasis-free survival.

METHODS

A total of 81 patients were enrolled. The survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Both univariate and multivariate survival analyses were assessed by a Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

SUV_max ≥15.2 in institution A (p = 0.0306) or SUV_max ≥8 in institution B (p = 0.0132) was significantly predictor of a lower OS. We disaggregated the data by high SUV_max (SUV_max ≥15.2 from institution A and SUV_max ≥8 from institution B) and low SUV_max (SUV_max <15.2 from institution A and SUV_max <8 from institution B). Patients with a high SUV_max exhibited a significantly lower OS in both univariate (p = 0.001) and multivariate (p = 0.0046) analyses for adjusted for the clinical stage and treatment group. The patients with a high SUV_max exhibited significantly shorter disease-specific (p = 0.0068), distant metastasis-free (p = 0.0428), and lung metastasis-free (p = 0.0328) survivals.

CONCLUSIONS

High SUV_max was significantly correlated with a lower OS, disease-specific survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and lung metastasis-free survival in a multi-institutional retrospective study.