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The intensity of 18FDG uptake does not predict tumor growth in patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer

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

Abstract

Purpose

In patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake as well as age, tumor size and radioactive iodine (RAI) uptake are prognostic factors for survival. High FDG uptake is a poor prognostic factor and lesions with high FDG uptake are often considered aggressive, but the predictive value of FDG uptake for morphological progression is unknown. The principal aim of this retrospective single center study was to determine whether the intensity of FDG uptake was correlated on a per lesion analysis with tumor growth rate (TGR) expressed as the percentage of increase in tumor size during 1 year (1-year TGR).

Methods

Fifty five patients with DTC were included between July 2012 and May 2014 with the following criteria: (i) at least one distant metastasis measuring ≥ 1 cm in diameter on CT scan (ii) evaluation by FDG-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) performed at our center (iii) at least one CT or another FDG-PET/CT performed 3 to 12 months after the reference FDG-PET/CT in the absence of systemic or local treatment between the two imaging procedures.

Results

One hundred and fifty-six metastatic lesions located in lungs (63), neck lymph nodes (28), chest lymph nodes (42), bone (11), liver (2) and other sites (12) were studied. The median size was 16 mm, median SUVmax/lesion: 8.7; median metabolic tumor volume/lesion (Metab.TV/lesion): 3.7 cm3. The median 1-year TGR was 40.68 %. SUVmax and Metab.TV/lesion were not correlated to their 1-year TGR (p = 0.38 and p = 0.74 respectively). Among single patients with multiple lesions, the lesions with the highest SUVmax/lesion or the highest Metab.TV/lesion did not disclose the higher 1-year TGR.

Conclusion

The intensity of FDG uptake on a per lesion analysis is not correlated to its 1-year TGR and cannot be used as a surrogate marker of tumour progression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology, Gustave Roussy and Université Paris Saclay, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Marie Terroir, Laurent Dercle, Jean Lumbroso, Eric Baudin, Amandine Berdelou, Désirée Deandreis, Martin Schlumberger & Sophie Leboulleux

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Gustave Roussy, University Paris Sud, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Isabelle Borget

  3. Department of Radiology, Gustave Roussy, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    François Bidault

  4. Department of Physic, Gustave Roussy, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Marcel Ricard

  5. Department of Interventional Radiology, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Frédéric Deschamps & Lambros Tselikas

  6. Department of Surgery, Gustave Roussy, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif, France

    Dana Hartl

Authors
  1. Marie Terroir
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  2. Isabelle Borget
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  3. François Bidault
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  4. Marcel Ricard
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  8. Laurent Dercle
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  9. Jean Lumbroso
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  10. Eric Baudin
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  11. Amandine Berdelou
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  12. Désirée Deandreis
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  13. Martin Schlumberger
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  14. Sophie Leboulleux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie Terroir.

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Conflict of interest

None.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Written consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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No financial support to declare.

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Terroir, M., Borget, I., Bidault, F. et al. The intensity of 18FDG uptake does not predict tumor growth in patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 44, 638–646 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-016-3551-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-016-3551-x

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