Cancers 2019, 11(4), 543; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers11040543
18F-FDG-PET Can Predict Microvessel Density in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Alexey Surov 1,*
, Hans Jonas Meyer 1, Anne-Kathrin Höhn 2, Andreas Wienke 3, Osama Sabri 4 and Sandra Purz 4
, Hans Jonas Meyer 1, Anne-Kathrin Höhn 2, Andreas Wienke 3, Osama Sabri 4 and Sandra Purz 4
1
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
2
Department of Pathology, University Hospital of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
3
Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger Str. 8, 06097 Halle, Germany
4
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Leipzig, Liebigstrasse 18, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 11 March 2019 / Revised: 4 April 2019 / Accepted: 11 April 2019 / Published: 15 April 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Medical Imaging in Cancers)
Abstract
Aim: Positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluordeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) plays an essential role in the staging and tumor monitoring of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Microvessel density (MVD) is one of the clinically important histopathological features in HNSCC. The purpose of this study was to analyze possible associations between 18F-FDG-PET findings and MVD parameters in HNSCC. Materials and Methods: Overall, 22 patients with a mean age of 55.2 ± 11.0 and with different HNSCC were acquired. In all cases, whole-body 18F-FDG-PET was performed. For each tumor, the maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax; SUVmean) were determined. The MVD, including stained vessel area and total number of vessels, was estimated on CD105 stained specimens. All specimens were digitalized and analyzed by using ImageJ software 1.48v. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to analyze associations between investigated parameters. p-values of <0.05 were taken to indicate statistical significance. Results: SUVmax correlated with vessel area (r = 0.532, p = 0.011) and vessel count (r = 0.434, p = 0.043). Receiver operating characteristic analysis identified a threshold SUVmax of 15 to predict tumors with high MVD with a sensitivity of 72.7% and specificity of 81.8%, with an area under the curve of 82.6%. Conclusion: 8F-FDG-PET parameters correlate statistically significantly with MVD in HNSCC. SUVmax may be used for discrimination of tumors with high tumor-related MVD. View Full-Text
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Surov, A.; Meyer, H.J.; Höhn, A.-K.; Wienke, A.; Sabri, O.; Purz, S. 18F-FDG-PET Can Predict Microvessel Density in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancers 2019, 11, 543.
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