[Prognostic value of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) in...

Objective: To investigated the prognostic value of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES -SCLC). Methods: Fifty-five patients with ES-SCLC who underwent pretreatment (18)F-FDG PET-CT were retrospectively recruited in this study. The correlations of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of primary lesion, metabolic tumor volume (MTV) of primary lesion (MTVp), total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of primary lesion (TLGp), the highest SUVmax of all lesions, the sum of metabolic volume (MTV sum), the sum of total lesions glycolysis (TLGsum) and clinical factors were analyzed. Results: The SUVmax, MTVp, TLGp, the highest SUVmax, MTVsum and TLGsum of 55 patients were 11.34±7.02, 29.61 cm(3,) 207.72, 13.61±7.10, 123.57 cm(3) and 988.48, respectively. The SUVmax of primary lesion, MTVp and TLGp were correlated with tumor type and the maximal tumor length, respectively(all P<0.05). The correlations were also found between MTVp, TLGp and hydrothorax, respectively(both P<0.05). MTVsum and TLGsum were correlated with number of lesions, hydrothorax, LDH, hemoglobin and ECOG, respectively(all P<0.05). The association was also found between TLGsum and the maximal tumor length (P=0.039). 51 patients were progressive or recurrent with the median 6.9 months of progression free survival (PFS); and 50 patients were died with the median 11.7 months of overall survival (OS). Univariate analysis showed that MTVsum, TLGsum, number of lesions, ECOG, live metastasis, bone metastasis, the cycle of chemotherapy and thoracic radiation therapy were all associated with PFS and OS (all P<0.05); LDH and hemoglobin were only associated with PFS(both P<0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that LDH, ECOG, live metastasis, the cycle of chemotherapy, MTVsum, TLGsum were the independent predictors of PFS (all P<0.05); and ECOG and TLG sum were the independent predictors of OS (all P<0.05). Conclusions: (18)F-FDG PET-CT has certain prognostic value of patients with ES-SCLC. MTVsum and TLGsum are the independent predictors of PFS, and TLGsum is also an independent predictor of OS.