Value of sequential 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) in prediction of the overall survival of esophageal cancer patients treated with chemoradiotherapy.

This study is to investigate the value of the metabolic parameters measured by sequential FDG PET/CT in predicting the overall survival of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). A total of 160 patients who were newly diagnosed as ESCC patients and treated with chemoradiotherapy were included in this study. The FDG PET/CT was carried out prior to radiotherapy (PET1), when the cumulative dose of radiotherapy reached 50 Gy (PET2), at the end of radiotherapy (PET3) and 1 month after radiotherapy (PET4). The max of the standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor, the metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and the total lesion glycolisis (TLG) prior to treatment were measured. The correlation of the measured parameters and the derived parameters of SUVmax with the overall survival was analyzed. The relatively reduced percentage of the SUVmax of PET3 and PET4 to the SUVmax of PET1 and PET2, had predictive value for the overall survival. The area under researcher operation curve (ROC) was between 0.62 and 0.73 (P < 0.01). The MTV and TLG prior to treatment might be used to predict the overall survival, and the area under ROC were both 0.69 (P < 0.001). Sequential FDG PET/CT scanning is useful to predict the overall survival of chemoradiotherapy for ESCC. The metabolic parameters and the derived parameters of FDG PET/CT have predictive values for overall survival.