In this study, we aimed to assess the prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) measured on (18)F-FDG PET/CT in pancreatic cancer patients who underwent resection with curative intent.
Methods: Eighty-seven patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT and subsequent surgical resection with curative intent with (30 patients) or without (57 patients) neoadjuvant therapy were retrospectively enrolled. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), MTV, and TLG were measured on (18)F-FDG PET/CT in all patients. The prognostic significances of PET/CT parameters and tumor factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: Of the 87 patients, 57 (64%) experienced recurrence during the follow-up period. The tumor size, pathologic T (pT) stage, SUVmax, MTV, and TLG were significant prognostic factors for both RFS and OS (P < 0.05) on univariate analyses, and the presence of lymph node metastasis showed significance only for predicting RFS (P < 0.05). On multivariate analyses, the tumor size, MTV, and TLG were independent prognostic factors for RFS, and pT stage, MTV, and TLG were independent prognostic factors for OS. For the 57 patients who did not undergo neoadjuvant treatment, MTV and TLG remained significant predictive factors for tumor recurrence, along with tumor size and SUVmax.
Conclusion: MTV and TLG are independent prognostic factors for predicting RFS and OS in patients with pancreatic cancer. Thus, (18)F-FDG PET/CT can provide useful prognostic information for patients undergoing resection of pancreatic cancer with curative intent irrespective of neoadjuvant treatment.
Keywords: 18F-FDG; PET; metabolic tumor volume; pancreatic cancer; prognosis.
© 2014 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.