Clinically determined type of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose uptake as an alternative prognostic marker in resectable pancreatic cancer

Purpose To investigate the association between clinical PET (positron emission tomography) type and oncologic outcome in resectable pancreatic cancer. Methods Between January 2008 and October 2012, patients who underwent potentially curative resection for resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma without neoadjuvant treatment were retrospectively investigated. Clinical PET type was defined as follows: pancreatic cancer with similar 18 FDG uptake to renal calyx was determined as kidney-type (K-type), and relatively lower 18 FDG uptake than that of renal calyx was regarded as Non-K type. Results A total of 53 patients were enrolled. After agreement-based reclassification, agreement based K-type (aK-type) was noted in 34 patients (64.2%), and agreement based Non-K type (aNon K-type) was found in 19 patients (35.8%). There was a significant difference between aK-type and aNon K-type pancreatic cancer (tumor size (P = 0.030), adjusted CA 19 - 9 (P = 0.007), maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax, P<0.001), metabolic tumor volume (MTV2.5, P<0.001), total lesion glycolysis (TLG, P<0.001)). K-type pancreatic cancer (n = 31) showed a significantly shorter disease-free time compared with Non-K type (n = 16) (10.8 vs. 24.1 months, P = 0.013). It was also noted that aK-type showed inferior diseasefree survival to that of aNon-K type pancreatic cancer (11.9 vs. 28.6 months, P = 0.012). Conclusions Clinical PET type is a reliable clinical marker to estimate aggressive tumor biology and can be utilized in predicting tumor recurrence and necessity for postoperative chemotherapy.