Preoperative Volume-Based PET Parameter, MTV(2.5), as a Potential Surrogate Marker for Tumor Biology and Recurrence in Resected Pancreatic Cancer

This study aims to evaluate the role of volume-based positron emission tomography parameters as potential surrogate markers for tumor recurrence in resected pancreatic cancer. Between January 2008 and October 2012, medical records of patients who underwent surgical resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and completed (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT as a part of preoperative staging work-up were retrospectively reviewed. Not only clinicopathologic variables but also positron emission tomography parameters such as SUV(max), MTV(2.5) (metabolic tumor volume), and TLG (total lesion glycolysis) were obtained. Twenty-six patients were women and 31 were men with a mean age of 62.9 ± 9.1 years. All patients were preoperatively determined to resectable pancreatic cancer except 1 case with borderline resectability. R0 resection was achieved in all patients and 45 patients (78.9%) received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy. Median overall disease-free survival was 12.8 months with a median overall disease-specific survival of 25.1 months. SUV(max) did not correlate with radiologic tumor size (P = 0.501); however, MTV(2.5) (P = 0.001) and TLG (P = 0.009) were significantly associated with radiologic tumor size. In addition, MTV(2.5) (P < 0.001) and TLG (P < 0.001) were significantly correlated with a tumor differentiation. There were no significant differences in TLG and SUV(max) according to lymph node ratio; only MTV(2.5) was related to lymph node ratio with marginal significance (P = 0.055). In multivariate analysis, lymph node ratio (Exp [β] = 2.425, P = 0.025) and MTV(2.5) (Exp[β] = 2.273, P = 0.034) were identified as independent predictors of tumor recurrence following margin-negative resection. Even after tumor size-matched analysis, MTV(2.5) was still identified as significant prognostic factor in resected pancreatic cancer (P < 0.05). However, preoperative neoadjuvant treatment attenuated adverse oncologic impact of high preoperative MTV(2.5) (P = 0.210). Preoperatively determined volume-based PET parameter, MTV(2.5), can potentially be used as a surrogate marker to estimate tumor biology and tumor recurrence. Individual treatment strategies for pancreatic cancer can be suggested based on patients’ preoperative MTV(2.5).