Abstract
PurposeTo evaluate the role of the pre-treatment cervical and lymph node (LN) metabolic parameters of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy.Methodswe reviewed 125 consecutive patients with LACC who underwent pre-treatment 18F-FDG PET/CT examination and concurrent chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy from February 2010 to December 2015 at our institute. The mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of cervical lesion and lymph node (LN) were recorded. Receiver operator characteristic curve, C-index, Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards models were performed.ResultsThe median follow-up was 62 months (range, 4-114 months). For 125 included patients with cervical cancer, the 5-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), local control (LC) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rates were 83.6%, 75.1%, 92.3% and 79.9%, respectively. Cervical MTV (c-index 0.59-0.61) and cervical TLG (c-index 0.60-0.62) values calculated with a threshold of 40% SUVmax presented stronger prediction capability than cervical SUVmean (c-index 0.51-0.58) and cervical SUVmax (c-index 0.53-0.57) for OS, DFS, LC, and DMFS. In univariate analysis, cervical TLG ≥ 113.4 had worse DFS and DMFS. Cervical MTV ≥ 18.3 cm3 had worse OS and DMFS. In multivariate analysis, cervical TLG ≥ 113.4 implied worse OS, DFS, and DMFS. In either univariate or multivariate analyses, cervical SUVmean and cervical SUVmax had no statistically significant correlation with OS, DFS, LC and DMFS. For 55 cervical cancer patients with positive LN, LN SUVmax presented strongest prediction capability for OS (c-index = 0.79), DFS (c-index = 0.72), LC (c-index = 0.62), and DMFS (c-index = 0.79). In multivariate analysis, LN SUVmax remained significant biomarker linked to OS, DFS, and DMFS.ConclusionPre-treatment cervical and LN metabolic parameters were associated with survival outcomes in patients with LACC. In our study, we found that pre-treatment cervical TLG and LN SUVmax may be important prognostic biomarkers for OS, DFS, and DMFS. However, further prospective studies with a large number of patients are required to evaluate the value of the metabolic parameters in survival outcomes prediction.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is a global health problem and the leading cause of cancer death for women in developing countries [1]
Forty-three patients (34.4%) had positive pelvic metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) and 2 patients (1.6%) had positive paraaortic MLNs confirmed by 18F-FDG PET/CT; 10 patients (8%) with positive para-aortic MLNs had concomitant pelvic lymph nodes metastasis
For 125 included patients with cervical cancer, cervical MTV (c-index 0.59-0.61) and cervical TLG (c-index 0.60-0.62) values calculated with a threshold of 40% SUVmax presented stronger prediction capability than cervical SUVmean (c-index 0.51-0.58) and cervical SUVmax (c-index 0.53-0.57) for Overall survival (OS), Diseasefree survival (DFS), Local control (LC) and Distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS)
Summary
Cervical cancer is a global health problem and the leading cause of cancer death for women in developing countries [1]. Cervical cancer ranks eighth in incidence and mortality in China [2]. Almost half of the patients present with locally advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. The primary therapeutic method for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) is concurrent chemoradiotherapy. In approximately 80% of patients with disease recurrence, disease failure of cervical cancer occurs within 2 years after initial treatment. Some prognostic factors have been associated with clinical outcomes, including age, stage, tumor pathology, primary tumor size, lymph node status, squamous cell carcinoma antigen, and human papillomavirus [3,4,5,6]
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