Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: relationship between 18F-FDG PET-CT maximum standardized uptake value, metabolic tumour volume and total lesion glycolysis and TNM classification

Purpose We aimed to evaluate the relationships between primary tumour; maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumour volume (TV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and tumour-node metastases (TNM) classification in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Methods Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans of 57 consecutive newly diagnosed NPC patients (age range, 15-80 years) were retrospectively reviewed. SUVmax, TV and TLG were recorded. Two-tailed Spearman's correlation was used to analyse the relationships between the metabolic parameters and the TNM staging system. Results Positive correlations were observed between SUVmax (P < 0.001, R = 0.516), TV (P < 0.001, R = 0.504) and TLG (P < 0.001, R = 0.620) and T-stage, and both TV and SUVmax were independent variables that significantly affected T-stage (P < 0.001, adjusted R-2 = 0.370). No other significant correlations were found between the metabolic parameters and TNM classification system. Conclusion The metabolic parameters derived from fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography were positively correlated with T-stage in primary NPC. Our findings may suggest a complementary role of these parameters to TNM staging in prognostication of NPC patients. Nucl Med Commun 31: 206-210 (C) 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.