title: Prognostic value of pretreatment FDG PET in pediatric neuroblastoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in pediatric neuroblastoma patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 50 pediatric neuroblastoma patients who underwent diagnostic work-up FDG PET before any treatment. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV(max)) of the primary tumor lesion (P(max)), the SUV(max) of all the tumor lesions, including the primary tumor lesion and metastatic lesions (T(max)), and the uptake ratio of T(max) to mean SUV of normal liver tissue (T(max)/L(mean)) were calculated and tested as prognostic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 50 patients, 15 (30.0%) experienced disease progression and 21 (42.0%) died during the follow-up period. On univariate analysis, the histopathology, tumor stage, bone marrow involvement, serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), neuron-specific enolase, and ferritin, primary tumor size, P(max), T(max), and T(max)/L(mean) were significant prognostic factors for disease progression-free survival (PFS), whereas the tumor stage, serum level of LDH, T(max), and T(max)/L(mean) were determined to be significant for predicting overall survival (OS). On multivariate analysis, the histopathology and serum level of LDH were independent prognostic factors for PFS, and only the T(max)/L(mean) was an independent prognostic factor for OS. The 2-year PFS and OS rates were over 80.0% in patients with low FDG uptake, meanwhile, patients with high FDG uptake showed the 2-year PFS of less than 30.0% and OS of less than 55.0%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FDG PET was an independent prognostic factor for OS in neuroblastoma patients. FDG PET can provide effective information on the prognosis for neuroblastoma patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, International St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, 25 Simgok-ro 100 beon-gil, Seo-gu, Incheon 404-834, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul 120-752, South Korea.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul 120-752, South Korea.
authors.forename: Mijin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, International St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, 25 Simgok-ro 100 beon-gil, Seo-gu, 404-834, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Doo
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul 120-752, South Korea. Electronic address: cj@yuhs.ac.
authors.forename: Chuhl Joo
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lyu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 Shinchon-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul 120-752, South Korea. Electronic address: mdkwj@yuhs.ac.
authors.forename: Won Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011379:Prognosis; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
keywords: (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose; Neuroblastoma; Positron emission tomography; Prognosis