Prognostic Value of ¹⁸F-FDG PET in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer

Abstract

Low SUVs (</= 7.0) predicted significantly higher rates of 2-year local control (p = 0.0067) and disease-free survival (p = 0.0051) as compared with high SUVs (> 7.0). In the Cox proportional hazards model, tumor SUV was a significant and independent predictor of local control (p = 0.022) and disease-free survival (p = 0.019). In addition, in the group of high SUV, high T stage was more associated with poorer outcome than low T stage (p = 0.0502). Therefore, patients with higher tumor FDG uptake should be considered for a more aggressive treatment approach.