FDG-PET predicts bone invasion and prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Nan-Chin Lin,Michael Y C Chen,I-Hsien Su,Kuo-Yang Tsai,Jui-Ting Hsu

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94567-w

Abstract

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is widely used for tumor staging. This study sought to determine the relationship of preoperative primary tumor SUVmax (tSUVmax) with the clinicopathological features of patients with OSCC and to compare the prognostic ability of tSUVmax with that of other recurrence factors. Data of 340 patients with OSCC who were diagnosed, treated, and followed up at the Changhua Christian Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Only patients with OSCC arising from gingiva, palate, floor of the mouth, and retromolar trigone and those who had received preoperative FDG-PET within 2 weeks before surgery were included. tSUVmax value > 9.2 was the strong predictor of bone invasion (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.844). tSUVmax value > 7.2 showed a strong association with advanced pathological T stage and recurrence factors and was associated with poor survival; tSUVmax > 7.2 showed stronger predictive power for poor disease-free survival (DFS) than pT stage and the other recurrence factors related to primary tumor. FDG-PET can be a useful supplement to contrast-enhanced computed tomography or contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosing bone invasion by OSCC. The tSUVmax value was an independent predictor of DFS in this study.

Highlights

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is widely used for tumor staging
The exclusion criteria were as follows: patients who did not receive treatment as per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) treatment guidelines, those who were lost to follow-up or for whom complete data were not available, those who were initially diagnosed with recurrence or distant metastasis, and those who did not receive treatment at the Changhua Christian Hospital
A total of 340 patients diagnosed with gingiva, palate, floor of the mouth, or retromolar trigone Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) were enrolled in our retrospective study

Summary

Introduction

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is widely used for tumor staging. This study sought to determine the relationship of preoperative primary tumor SUVmax (tSUVmax) with the clinicopathological features of patients with OSCC and to compare the prognostic ability of tSUVmax with that of other recurrence factors. In the clinical applications include the detection of the occult primary metastatic cervical lymph nodes, locoregional recurrence, distant metastasis, assessment of treatment response to external beam irradiation ( in combination with chemotherapy), and surveillance for recurrence[10] It detects the increased glucose uptake by the tumor quantified by the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax)[11,12]. To the best of our knowledge, the association between the preoperative primary tumor SUVmax (tSUVmax) and bone invasion of OSCC is not well characterized in the contemporary literature. Tumor staging, recurrence factors, and survival outcomes, and to compare the prognostic value of tSUVmax with that of the other factors associated with recurrence

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion