title: (18)F-FDG-PET/CT predicts early tumor recurrence in living donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The prognosis including (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET/CT) for the early recurrence for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) was not well established. Consecutive patients who underwent (18)F-FDG-PET/CT and subsequent LDLT for HCC from March 2005 to June 2011 were enrolled. The 191 patients with a median follow-up of 26.1 months were evaluated. There were 20 patients (10.5%) with early recurrence (≤6 months), 18 patients (9.4%) with late recurrence (>6 months), and 153 patients (80.1%) with no recurrence. Fifty-five patients (28.8%) displayed increased PET/CT tumor uptake. Three-year overall and disease-free survival for PET/CT-positive patients were 65.5% and 57.1%, respectively, while PET/CT-negative patients showed respective values of 89.8% and 86.8% (P = 0.001 vs. P < 0.001). Tumor variables associated with PET/CT-positive finding were preoperative AFP level, Milan, UCSF criteria, maximum tumor size, total tumor size, differentiation, vascular invasion, and serosal invasion. PET/CT-positive status was identified as an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival influencing early recurrence in multivariable analysis (HR 3.945, 95% CI 1.196-13.016, P = 0.024). (18)F-FDG-PET/CT is an independent and significant predictor of early tumor recurrence in LDLT for HCC.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Liver Cancer, National Cancer Centre, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Duk
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seong Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Kyu
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chulhan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seok-Ki
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Sik
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Sang-Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18