Metabolic activity measured on PET/CT correlates with clinical outcomes in patients with limb and girdle sarcomas

Objective To explore the relationship between metabolic activity and outcome in patients with extremity sarcomas. Methods Between June 2004 and December 2011, 120 patients with newly diagnosed limb and girdle sarcomas underwent FDG‐PET/CT for disease staging prior to curative intent treatment. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was measured for each primary tumor and correlated with outcome. Progression‐free survival and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results Soft‐tissue sarcomas were more frequent (68%) than bone (27%) or cartilage (5%) tumors. Median follow‐up was 33.2 months. 51% of patients progressed during the follow‐up interval and 38% died. SUVmax was dichotomized with a cut‐point of 10.3. Patients with SUVmax