Source: www.hemonctoday.com Author: Christen Haigh Maximal standardized uptake value measured from FDG PET readings from the primary tumor of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck predicted disease-specific survival, overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS). Additionally, pretreatment maximal standardized uptake value, or SUVmax, for lymphadenopathy was associated with distant metastasis, according to the findings of a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz. “FDG PET scan before treatment for head and neck cancer may help to guide future treatment of patients with high SUV in the tumor and node,” Min Yao, MD, PhD, radiation oncologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, said during a news briefing. Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 295 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. There were 177 patients who had FDG PET pretreatment and had SUVmax for primary tumor and/or lymphadenopathy (SUV-LN). The three-year local recurrence-free survival rate was 95%; the regional recurrence-free survival rate was 95% and the local-regional recurrence-free survival rate was 92.6%. The three-year distant metastasis-free survival and disease-specific survival rates were both 78.8%. DFS was 63.95% and OS was 67.4%. Primary tumor SUVmax was significantly associated with DFS and OS. A strong association was noted for DFS as well, according to researchers. The three-year distant metastasis-free survival rate was 82.1% when SUV-LN was less than 11.3% and 63.4% when SUV-LN was greater than 11.3. “The findings of this study show that we may use SUV before treatment to personalize [...]