Preoperative 18[F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography predicts early recurrence after pancreatic cancer resection

An important step in deciding the treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer is to preoperatively predict the possibility of early recurrence. We reviewed whether 18[F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) before pancreatic cancer resection could predict tumor recurrence in the early postoperative period. FDG-PET/CT was performed preoperatively on 56 patients with pancreatic cancer. The maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax) values obtained by FDG-PET/CT were compared between two groups: patients with and without recurrence within the first 6 postoperative months. SUVmax analyses were also performed to determine whether age, sex, CA 19-9 values, the operative method, and portal vein resection were also predictive of recurrence within less than 6 months after tumor resection. The median SUVmax values of the recurrence group and no-recurrence group were 7.9 and 4.2, respectively (P = 0.0042). The SUVmax was the only risk factor for recurrence in the first 6 postoperative months identified by multivariate analysis (P = 0.0062). Preoperative SUVmax was higher in the recurrence group during the early postoperative period, and a high SUVmax was a risk factor for early postoperative recurrence. Based on these results, we conclude that FDG-PET/CT is predictive of the recurrence of pancreatic cancer in the early postoperative period.