Prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT for identifying high- and low-risk endometrial cancer patients

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the usefulness of adding PET/CT as a preoperative test for determining the extent of endometrial cancer and discriminating low- and high-risk patients to identify candidates for surgical staging.

Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 86 patients with pathologically proven endometrial cancer who had undergone preoperative ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT. The prognostic relationships between PET/CT parameters and pathology reports were assessed.

Results: The SUV_max was significantly higher in patients with FIGO stage IB or higher compared with those with stage IA; for stage III–IV compared with stage I–II; and for patients with lymph node metastasis compared with those without lymph node metastasis. Using 6.70 as a cut-off for SUV_max, low-risk patients can be identified with a sensitivity of 92.9%.

Conclusions: PET/CT imaging can be used not only for determining malignancy and lymph node involvement but also for determining candidates for surgical staging with high sensitivity.