Pretreatment tumor SUV predicts disease-specific and overall survival in patients with head and neck soft tissue sarcoma.

PURPOSE

Head and neck soft tissue sarcoma (HNSTS) is a rare type of tumor with various histological presentations and clinical behaviors. F-FDG PET/CT is being increasingly used for staging, grading, and predicting treatment outcomes in various types of human cancers, although this modality has been rarely studied in the survival prediction of HNSTS. Here we examined the prognostic value of tumor metabolic parameters measured using F-FDG PET/CT in patients with HNSTS.

METHODS

This study included 36 consecutive patients with HNSTS who underwent F-FDG PET/CT scanning prior to treatment at our institution. Tumor gross total volume (GTV) was measured from pretreatment contrast-enhanced CT scans, and maximum standardized uptake value (SUV), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were measured using pretreatment F-FDG PET/CT scans. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used to identify associations between imaging parameters and disease-specific survival (DSS) or overall survival (OS).

RESULTS

Univariate analyses showed that SUV, MTV, and TLG, but not GTV, were significantly associated with DSS and OS (all P < 0.05). After controlling for clinicopathological factors, SUV, MTV, and TLG were significantly associated with DSS and OS (all P < 0.05). Patients with a tumor SUV value of >7.0 experienced an approximately fivefold increase in mortality in terms of DSS and OS relative to those with a tumor SUV <7.0.

CONCLUSION

Quantitative metabolic measurements on pretreatment F-FDG PET/CT can yield values that are significantly predictive of survival after treatment for HNSTS.