title: Prognostic impact of standardized uptake value of F-18 FDG PET/CT in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the use of metabolic parameters of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) for the assessment of the primary tumor and nodal metastasis in predicting survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The F-18 FDG PET/CT (computed tomography) scans of 46 consecutive newly diagnosed NPC patients were retrospectively reviewed. Maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) corrected for lean body mass of primary tumor (pSUVmax) and highest SUVmax of cervical lymph nodes (nSUVmax) were recorded. The association of FDG uptake and 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly better DFS was found in patients with pSUVmax <7.5 and nSUVmax <6.5 (P = 0.042 and P = 0.019, respectively). In multivariate analysis, both pSUVmax and nSUVmax were significant independent predictors of DFS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SUVmax of the primary tumor and nodal metastasis are useful parameters for predicting DFS in NPC patients.
authors: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors: Winnie K S
authors: WK
authors: Chan
authors: Dora Lai-Wan
authors: DL
authors: Kwong
authors: David W C
authors: DW
authors: Yeung
authors: Bingsheng
authors: B
authors: Huang
authors: Pek-Lan
authors: PL
authors: Khong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012015:Reference Standards; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18