Volumetric Evaluation of Staging [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT Images in Patients with Esophageal Cancer/Ozofagus Kanserli Hastalarda Evreleme [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/BT Goruntulerinin Hacimsel Degerlendirilmesi

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the metastatic potential of primary tumor and survival in esophageal cancer (EC) patients by using metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) from the staging [.sup.18]F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images. Another aim is to determine a tumor volume-based cut-off value to predict long-term survival. Methods: Medical records of EC patients were retrospectively evaluated. Sixty-two patients with staging [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT and at least five years of follow-up were included in the study. The region of interest to the primary tumor and all metastatic sites was created and MTV and TLG values of the primary tumor (MTVp, TLGp) and total tumor volume (MTVt and TLGt) values were obtained. The relationship between the obtained MTV and TLG values and short-time (one-year) and long time (five-year) survival was investigated. Results: Significant factors on survival were determined as lymph node or distant metastasis (p=0.024, 0.008, respectively) at the staging PET/CT. A significant relationship between volumetric parameters of the primary tumor and total tumor burden (MTVp, TLGp, MTVwb and TLGwb) between survivors and non-survivors for one-year and five-year was detected. In receiver operating characteristics analysis, the most significant volumetric parameter was MTVwb, with area under curve 0.771 in estimated five-year survival. The best cut-off value was detected as 36.1 mL with 78% sensitivity and 75% specificity for MTVwb in determining long-term survivors. Conclusion: Tumor burden in [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT images at the time of staging of patients with EC will contribute to the prediction of long-term survivors. Keywords: [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/CT, metabolic tumor volume, esophageal cancer Amac: Bu calismanin amaci evreleme [.sup.18]F-florodeoksiglukoz (FDG) pozitron emisyon tomografisi/bilgisayarli tomografi (PET/BT) goruntulerinden metabolik tumor hacmi (MTV) ve toplam lezyon glikolizini (TLG) kullanarak ozofagus kanseri (OK) hastalarinda primer tumorun metastatik potansiyelini ve sagkalimi degerlendirmektedir. Diger bir amac, uzun sureli sagkalimi tahmin etmek icin tumor hacmine dayali bir esik deger belirlemektir. Yontem: OK tanili hastalarin tibbi kayitlari geriye donuk olarak degerlendirildi. Evreleme aninda [.sup.18]F-FDG PET/BT yapilan ve en az bes yillik takip suresi olan 62 hasta calismaya dahil edildi. Primer tumorun ve tum metasta