title: Prognostic value of SUVmean in oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers: comparison with SUVmax and other volumetric parameters of 18F-FDG PET.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether SUV parameters, from PET, can provide prognostic information for patients with oropharyngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight patients with oropharyngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer who underwent PET before treatment were enrolled. A volume of interest was placed on PET images covering the entire tumor volume and metastatic lymph nodes, and the SUVmax, SUVmean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the use of Kaplan-Meier analysis, age, SUVmean, MTV, and TLG predicted decreased disease-free survival (DFS). However, SUVmax was not associated with DFS. In multivariate analysis, the variables were included in 3 separate models. An SUVmean2.5 was an independent prognostic factor for DFS. Other SUV parameters, such as MTV and TLG, were associated with trends toward a decreasing DFS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SUVmean of PET was an independent prognostic factor for DFS in patients with oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul; †Department of Nuclear Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan; ‡Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital; and §Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Science, WCU Graduate School of Concergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea; and ∥University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA.
authors.forename: Kyoungjune
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pak
authors.forename: Gi Jeong
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Cheon
authors.forename: Keon Wook
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: June-Key
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: E Edmund
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Dong Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18