Valeur pronostique de la TEP au 18F-FDG dans le bilan d’extension initial du cancer de l’œsophage traité par radiochimiothérapie exclusive

Abstract

The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the prognostic significance of initial FDG-PET in patients with newly diagnosed oesophageal carcinoma before exclusive radiochemotherapy. FDG-PET was performed in 29 patients with newly diagnosed oesophageal carcinoma before radiochemotherapy. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max) was determined in each primary lesion and the presence of one or more PET-positive lymph nodes was recorded. Primary tumour volume and tumour length were assessed using two different thresholds for tumour delimitation: SUV = 2.5 and SUV = 40% of SUV max. Patients were followed clinically during at least 1 year after initial FDG-PET. The median follow-up was 35 months (IC 95% = 26–41 months). Thirteen patients (45%) died during the follow-up. By univariate logistic regression analysis, the SUV max of primary tumour and the presence of one or more positive lymph nodes were significantly associated with the overall survival. In contrast, no significant difference of prognosis was observed concerning age, sex, tumour cell type, primary site, clinical stage, primary tumour volume and length. Multivariate analysis was not performed due to the too small number of events. FDG-PET provides early prognostic informations in oesophageal carcinoma treated by radiochemotherapy.