The prognostic role of PET/CT in small-cell lung cancer

The aim in the present study is to determine the prognostic value of metabolic parameters related to the primary tumors detected in pretreatment Fluorine-18 2-fluoro-2-Deoxy-D-glucose (¹⁸F FDG) positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (PET/CT) scans of patients diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Enrolled in this retrospective study were 63 patients with a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of SCLC who underwent an ¹⁸F FDG PET/CT scan at baseline. Disease stage, age at diagnosis, gender, albumin level and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), SUVmean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) values related to the primary tumor at the baseline PET scan were recorded, and the relationship of these factors with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was evaluated.

The study included a total of 63 patients (10 female, 53 male, mean age of 64.8 and age range of 43-82 years), 22 of which had limited disease (LD) and 41 had extensive disease (ED). The OS and PFS were significantly higher in patients with LD than in patients with ED (15±2.9 vs. 10±0.9 months, p = 0.002 for OS; 10± 0.7 vs 6±0.6 months, p = 0.014 for PFS). However, no statistically significant relationship was identified between gender, albumin level, age and SUVmax, SUVmean, MTV, TLG values related to the primary tumor and PFS or OS.

The present study found that pretreatment PET parameters were of not predictive value for PFS and OS in patients with SCLC.