Prognostic significance of pretreatment 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography evaluation using metabolic tumor volume of the primary tumor and lymph nodes in advanced hypopharyngeal cancer.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the usefulness of pretreatment positron emission tomography (PET) using metabolic tumor volume (MTV) of the primary tumor and lymph nodes in advanced hypopharyngeal cancer. METHODS: From June 2007 to December 2015, consecutive patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer who underwent PET and were treated with definitive radiation therapy were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 61 patients were eligible for this study. On multivariate analysis, MTV of the primary tumor (MTV-T) was significantly related to the local control rate and overall survival (OS) (P = .036 and .012, respectively). In patients with lower MTV-T, MTV of metastatic lymph nodes (MTV-N) was significantly related to disease-specific survival and OS (P = .012 and .017, respectively). CONCLUSION: MTV-T is a significant predictor in patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer, and MTV-N is also significant in patients with lower MTV-T.