Prognostic value of SUVmax measurements obtained by FDG-PET in patients with non-small cell lung cancer receiving chemotherapy.
[(18)F]Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake has been shown to correlate well with tumor proliferation rates. In patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving chemotherapy, we analyzed the relationships between the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) obtained by FDG positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and other clinical factors, and examined whether or not SUVmax could predict progression-free survival (PFS) and/or overall survival (OS). This retrospective study involved 62 consecutive NSCLC patients (35 male and 27 female: median age, 65 years). All patients underwent FDG-PET examination before treatment. As the first-line treatment, the patients received chemotherapy with (n=15) or without (n=47) radiotherapy. Survival curves were obtained by the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences in survival between subgroups were analyzed by the log-rank test and the Cox proportional hazards model. Significant correlations were observed between SUVmax and gender (P=0.006), histology (P<0.001), smoking status (P=0.049), stage (P=0.015), and treatment modality (P=0.008), but not other factors, including age (P=0.402) and performance status (P=0.421). The median SUVmax was 5.1 (25-75th percentile: 3.45-7.0) in patients with adenocarcinoma and 8.3 (25-75th percentile: 6.9-9.9) in those with other types of NSCLC. Adenocarcinomas showed significantly lower SUVmax than the other tumor types (P<0.001). Cox analysis adjusting for possible confounding factors, including gender, smoking status, histology and stage, demonstrated that the hazard ratios increased as the SUVmax increased in terms of both PFS (P=0.008) and OS (P=0.045), indicating that SUVmax predicts outcome independently of other clinical factors, such as histology and stage. Our findings indicate that FDG-PET examination can provide information useful for prognostication in NSCLC.
Imamura
Yohei
Y
Division of Respirology, Neurology, and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-0011, Japan.
Azuma
Koichi
K
Kurata
Seiji
S
Hattori
Satoshi
S
Sasada
Tetsuro
T
Kinoshita
Takashi
T
Okamoto
Masaki
M
Kawayama
Tomotaka
T
Kaida
Hayato
H
Ishibashi
Masatoshi
M
Aizawa
Hisamichi
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18