18Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET)–derived tumoral and peritumoral radiomic parameters can predict pathological subtype and survival in esophageal carcinoma

AIM

The aim of this study is to investigate the importance of the quantitative parameters of the tumoral and peritumoral regions in prediction of pathological subtypes and 1-year survival in patients with esophageal carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 103 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) and in whom ¹⁸fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT) was performed were included in the study. One-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival times of all patients were noted. Primary tumor and peritumoral area were drawn with manual segmentation on the ¹⁸F-FDG PET images. Seventy-three quantitative parameters were extracted from tumoral and peritumoral volumes of interest by using software. The differences of parameters of tumoral and peritumoral regions were determined statistically between pathological subtypes and between 1-year survivors and non-survivors.

RESULTS

Diagnostic models were created with the statistically significant parameters. The model that consists of a tumoral and a peritumoral parameter could classify the pathological subtypes in 61% of the patients correctly (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.706, 61.2% accuracy, 53.7% sensitivity, and 75% specificity). The model that was created with 2 tumoral parameters could classify the 1-year survival in 66% of the patients correctly (AUC: 0.695, 66% accuracy, 73.6% sensitivity, and 56.1% specificity). The model consisting of a tumoral and a peritumoral parameter detected 1-year PFS in 66% of the patients accurately (AUC: 0.687, 66% accuracy, 72.4% sensitivity, and 55.6% specificity).

CONCLUSION

The quantitative parameters obtained from tumoral and peritumoral regions can provide information about pathological subtypes and 1-year survival in esophageal carcinoma.