Role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in assessment and prediction of progression of peritoneal metastasis from ovarian cancer

Abstract

varian cancer is the most lethal and silent gynecological tumors with a diagnosis in advanced stages in about 62% of cases. High percentage of patients with will develop disease recurrence even after optimal surgery and chemotherapy. The assessment of peritoneal dissemination in ovarian cancer is crucial since it is one of the most common form of spread. 18F-FDG PET/CT helps in detecting small peritoneal deposits. 18F-FDG PET/CT is a diagnostic method that combines anatomical imaging with molecular behavior of cancer cells. Various papers that have studied the potential ability of 18F-FDG PET/CT Maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUVmax) to predict prognosis of recurrent ovarian cancer and peritoneal metastasis showed promising results. They studied its ability to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy or to detect recurrent ovarian disease. High SUVmax values in the primary tumor and in recurrent lesions have also been correlated with poor outcome. In our study, while no cut off value for SUVmax was found to predict the response to therapy, it had a prognostic value regarding progression-free and overall survival. Also,