e17019 Background: Functional imaging, PET and its fusion with anatomical modalities, PET/CT promise to improve detection and characteristic disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate metabolic tumor volume as measured on F-18 FDG-PET/CT and its association with treatment response and prognosis in patients with head and neck cancer. Methods: The study population consisted of patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy for a maximum of three cycles followed by radiation therapy. Before treatment patients were taken FDG-PET/CT scan, SUVmax, tumor volume, metastasis were recorded. Results: We enrolled 59 patients with stage III ann IV head and neck cancer. The median age was 66 years (range 47–81). There were 32 patients with stage III and 27 with stage IV. The mean SUVmax was 8.8 (range, 1.478). The mean tumor volume was 21.3 cm3 (range, 0.2–170). There was no correlation between tumor volume and SUVmax (correlation coefficient 0.295). Higher SUVmax was not associated with an increased risk of lymph node and distant metastasis at diagnosis (p = 0.968). But higher tumor volume was associated with an increased risk of lymph node and distant metastasis at diagnosis (p = 0.063). The metabolic tumor volume as measured on PET/CT scans was predictor of treatment response and disease -free survival. The response rate were 84% (21/25) for an SUVmax <5.5, 55% (19/34) for an SUVmax > 5.5 (p = 0.038). The disease free survival were 31.1month for an SUVmax <5.5, 4.6months for an SUVmax > 5.5 (p = 0.025). Conclusions: The metabolic tumor volume as measured on F-18FDG-PET/CT is a predictive biomarker of treatment response and disease free survival for patients with head and neck cancer. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Validation that Metabolic Tumor Volume Predicts Outcome in Head and Neck Cancer