Post-treatment [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography as a prognostic tool for progression-free survival in epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

16029 Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate response to therapy using post-treatment molecular imaging with [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), and to compare the response with outcome in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: This was a retrospective medical record review of 179 patients with EOC. All patients underwent post-treatment whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) imaging scan with [18F] FDG from August 1998 to April 2005. Patients were treated with surgical staging procedure followed by platinum-based combination chemotherapy at least 3 cycles. Post-treatment whole-body FDG-PET was performed 1 to 7 months (median, 3 months) after completion of treatment. Results: One hundred fourteen patients showed no abnormal FDG uptake while 65 patients had abnormal FDG uptake at the scan. One hundred thirteen patients experienced recurrence or metastasis during follow-up. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 44 (range 2–83) months, and 5-year PFS rate was 34.3%. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of [18F] FDG PET images in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer recurrence or metastases were 46.1%, 82.8%, 59.2%, 82.8%, and 46.1%, respectively. A Cox proportional hazards model of survival outcome indicated that abnormal post-treatment FDG uptake (persistent or new) was the most significant prognostic factor for developing metastatic disease and death from EOC (hazard ratio, 0.432; 95% CI 0.296 to 0.630; P <.0001). However, there was no relation between the maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and the PFS. Conclusion: Post-treatment abnormal FDG uptake (persistent or new) detected by whole-body PET measures tumor response and might be predictive of poor prognostic ourtcome from EOC. No significant financial relationships to disclose.