title: Prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with soft tissue sarcoma: comparisons between metabolic parameters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between volume-based PET parameters and prognosis in patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed 55 patients with pathologically proven STS who underwent pretreatment with (18) F-Fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) PET/CT. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), average SUV (SUVavg), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of primary tumors were measured using a threshold SUV as liver activity for determining the boundary of tumors. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses for overall survival were performed according to the metabolic parameters and other clinical variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cancer-related death occurred in 19 of 55 patients (35 %) during the follow-up period (29 ± 23 months). On univariate analysis, AJCC stage (stage IV vs. I-III, hazard ratio (HR) = 2.837, p = 0.028), necrosis (G2 vs. G0-G1, HR = 3.890, p = 0.004), SUVmax (1 unit - increase, HR = 1.146, p = 0.008), SUVavg (1 unit - increase, HR = 1.469, p = 0.032) and treatment modality (non-surgical therapy vs. surgery, HR = 4.467, p = 0.002) were significant predictors for overall survival. On multivariate analyses, SUVmax (HR = 1.274, p = 0.015), treatment modality (HR = 3.353, p = 0.019) and necrosis (HR = 5.985, p = 0.006) were identified as significant independent prognostic factors associated with decreased overall survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SUVmax of the primary tumor is a significant independent metabolic prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with STS. Volume-based PET parameters may not add prognostic information outside of the SUVmax.
authors: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors: Sun-pyo
authors: SP
authors: Hong
authors: Seung Eun
authors: SE
authors: Lee
authors: Yoon-La
authors: YL
authors: Choi
authors: Sung Wook
authors: SW
authors: Seo
authors: Ki-Sun
authors: KS
authors: Sung
authors: Hong Hoe
authors: HH
authors: Koo
authors: Joon Young
authors: JY
authors: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015996:Survival Rate; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18