Prognostic value of 2-[(18) F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with retrograde superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy and daily concurrent radiotherapy

Objective To investigate whether 2-[18 F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) uptake of primary tumor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) could predict prognosis. Study Design Sixty-nine patients with OSCC who underwent retrograde superselective intra-arterial chemoradiotherapy were recruited and underwent dual-time-point FDG positron emission tomography twice, before treatment and 4 weeks after treatment. FDG uptake was defined as the standardized uptake value (SUVmax). The retention index (RI) and the percent change in SUV (% change SUV), derived from the dual-time-point scan, were calculated. Results On univariate analysis, patients with high pre-SUV, RI, and percent change SUV values had significantly worse overall survival and disease-free survival compared with patients with low values. On multivariate analysis, high pre-RI (≥20.6%) and high percent change SUV (≥60.0%) (delayed-image) were associated with significantly worse overall survival. High pre-SUV (≥9.6) (delayed-image) and high pre-RI (≥20.6%) were associated with significantly shorter disease-free survival. Conclusions Dual-time-point FDG positron emission tomography in OSCC provided prognostic information and predicted patient outcome.