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Heterogeneity index evaluated by slope of linear regression on 18F-FDG PET/CT as a prognostic marker for predicting tumor recurrence in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has been investigated as a method to predict pancreatic cancer recurrence after pancreatic surgery. We evaluated the recently introduced heterogeneity indices of 18F-FDG PET/CT used for predicting pancreatic cancer recurrence after surgery and compared them with current clinicopathologic and 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters.

Methods

A total of 93 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients (M:F = 60:33, mean age = 64.2 ± 9.1 years) who underwent preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT following pancreatic surgery were retrospectively enrolled. The standardized uptake values (SUVs) and tumor-to-background ratios (TBR) were measured on each 18F-FDG PET/CT, as metabolic parameters. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were examined as volumetric parameters. The coefficient of variance (heterogeneity index-1; SUVmean divided by the standard deviation) and linear regression slopes (heterogeneity index-2) of the MTV, according to SUV thresholds of 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0, were evaluated as heterogeneity indices. Predictive values of clinicopathologic and 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters and heterogeneity indices were compared in terms of pancreatic cancer recurrence.

Results

Seventy patients (75.3%) showed recurrence after pancreatic cancer surgery (mean recurrence = 9.4 ± 8.4 months). Comparing the recurrence and no recurrence patients, all of the 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters and heterogeneity indices demonstrated significant differences. In univariate Cox-regression analyses, MTV (P = 0.013), TLG (P = 0.007), and heterogeneity index-2 (P = 0.027) were significant. Among the clinicopathologic parameters, CA19–9 (P = 0.025) and venous invasion (P = 0.002) were selected as significant parameters. In multivariate Cox-regression analyses, MTV (P = 0.005), TLG (P = 0.004), and heterogeneity index-2 (P = 0.016) with venous invasion (P < 0.001, 0.001, and 0.001, respectively) demonstrated significant results.

Conclusions

The heterogeneity index obtained using the linear regression slope, could be an effective predictor of pancreatic cancer recurrence after pancreatic cancer surgery, in addition to 18F-FDG PET/CT volumetric parameters and clinicopathologic parameters.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of education (2009-0093820), and by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI14C1072), and by a grant of the Research Driven Hospital R&D project, funded by the CHA Bundang Medical Center (grant number: BDCHA R&D 2017-018).

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Author notes

  1. Yong-il Kim and Yong Joong Kim are authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, South Korea

    Yong-il Kim

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Yong-il Kim, Jin Chul Paeng, Gi Jeong Cheon, Dong Soo Lee, June-Key Chung & Keon Wook Kang

  3. Veterans Health Service Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea

    Yong Joong Kim

  4. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    June-Key Chung & Keon Wook Kang

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Keon Wook Kang

  6. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehak-ro, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 03080, South Korea

    Keon Wook Kang

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  1. Yong-il Kim
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Correspondence to Keon Wook Kang.

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Kim, Yi., Kim, Y.J., Paeng, J.C. et al. Heterogeneity index evaluated by slope of linear regression on 18F-FDG PET/CT as a prognostic marker for predicting tumor recurrence in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 44, 1995–2003 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-017-3755-8

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