Prognostic value of primary tumor SUVmax on pre-treatment 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract Objectives Concomitant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is widely used in the treatment of patients with stage III non-small lung carcinoma (NSCLC). The early identification of patients with poor prognosis is the premise of personalized treatment for patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic value of clinical parameters and primary tumor SUV max on pre-treatment 18 F-FDG PET/CT in patients with stage III NSCLC. Material and methods Clinical records of 79 stage III-NSCLC patients with pre-treatment 18 F-FDG PET/CT imaging, treated with definitive CCRT were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical endpoints in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were correlated with the median pre-treatment primary tumor SUV max . Furthermore, other factors influencing patient outcome were analyzed. Results The median age of patients was 58 years (range, 45–71) with 72 (91%) males. Squamous cell carcinoma (73%) was the most common histologic type. Performance status was very good (ECOG 0) in 64.5% of patients. Sixty (79%) patients had died at the time of this analysis. Median OS and PFS were 22.5 and 12.0 months, respectively. Patients were dichotomized according to pre-treatment primary tumor SUV max ≤15.0 vs >15.0. There was no statistically significant difference for OS and PFS in both arms. Multivariate analysis showed that pre-treatment SUV max was not a significant predictor of OS (HR 1.099, p  = 0.726) and PFS (HR 1.022, p  = 0.941). Conclusions SUV max with threshold value of 15.0 on the primary tumor before treatment had no prognostic value in our patient group with stage III NSCLC treated with definitive CCRT.