Positron emission tomography (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and prognosis in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma: A meta-analysis

PurposeTo investigate the prognostic significance of (18)F-FDG PET imaging in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma, a meta-analysis was conducted.MethodsComprehensive literature searches were performed in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) values were calculated to assess the correlations of pre-chemotherapy SUV (SUV1), post-chemotherapy SUV (SUV2), SUV Ratio, total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) with event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS).ResultsTwenty-three studies with 1261 patients were identified. The combined HRs for EFS were 1.84 (95% CI: 1.54–2.20) for SUV1, 2.92 (95% CI: 2.15–3.97) for SUV2, 1.90 (95% CI: 1.43–2.52) for SUV Ratio, 3.01 (95% CI: 1.36–6.67) for TLG and 2.32 (95% CI: 1.44–3.75) for MTV. The pooled HRs for OS were 1.85 (95% CI: 1.49–2.30) for SUV1, 2.00 (95% CI: 1.39–2.88) for SUV2, 2.20 (95% CI: 1.18–4.10) for SUV Ratio, 6.19 (95% CI: 2.17–17.66) for TLG and 2.67 (95% CI: 1.52–4.68) for MTV. Besides, high SUV1 was found to be significantly associated with higher rate of metastasis (RR 5.55, 95% CI: 2.75–11.18) and local recurrence (RR 1.87 95% CI: 1.28–2.72).Conclusion(18)F-FDG PET parameters of SUV1, SUV2, SUV Ratio, TLG and MTV may have effective prognostic significance for patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma. (18)F-FDG PET imaging may be a promising tool to help predict survival outcomes of these patients.