Abstract
BackgroundThe incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has been rising in recent years. Given the clinical impact of HPV/p16 positivity in OPSCC, identifying surrogate markers of this disease early in the diagnostic work-up of these patients could improve patient care.MethodsDemographic, pathologic, staging and PET-CT data from patients diagnosed with OPSCC from 2009–2014 were obtained from a prospectively collected provincial cancer registry. Tumor HPV/p16 status was correlated to the maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor and cervical nodes. Comparisons of means and multinomial regression models were used to determine associations between p16 status and SUVmax. A diagnostic odds ratio was calculated using a cut off value for predicting HPV/p16 positivity based on nodal SUVmax.ResultsPET-CT and HPV/p16 data was obtained for 65 patients treated surgically for OPSCC. Significantly higher nodal SUVmax was associated with HPV/p16 positive nodes (SUVmax 10.8 vs 7.9). No significant differences were seen between HPV/p16 positive vs negative primary tumor SUVmax (10.3 vs 13.7). In combination with other clinical parameters, higher nodal SUVmax was highly correlated with HPV/p16 positivity.ConclusionElevated nodal SUVmax is a significant predictor of HPV/p16 positive disease.
Highlights
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is an aggressive malignancy with a rising incidence worldwide [1,2,3]
All adult patients treated with a primary surgical approach with a pre-treatment Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) and p16 status of the oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) were included within the cohort (Fig. 1)
Of the patients treated with primary surgery, sixty-five had adequate pretreatment PET-CT and p16 status available (Fig. 1)
Summary
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is an aggressive malignancy with a rising incidence worldwide [1,2,3]. A large body of evidence from recent years has demonstrated that HPV positive and negative OPSCC are distinct from clinical, pathological and molecular perspectives [4, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Most importantly; patients with HPV-related OPSCC, generally pathologically identified by p16 positivity, have favorable survival outcomes following both surgical and non-surgical. Rates of cervical lymph node metastases in HPV positive OPSCC have been reported to be 60-76 % at initial presentation [19]. The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has been rising in recent years. Given the clinical impact of HPV/p16 positivity in OPSCC, identifying surrogate markers of this disease early in the diagnostic work-up of these patients could improve patient care. Tumor HPV/p16 status was correlated to the maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor and cervical nodes. A diagnostic odds ratio was calculated using a cut off value for predicting HPV/p16 positivity based on nodal SUVmax
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery = Le Journal d'oto-rhino-laryngologie et de chirurgie cervico-faciale
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
