Emerging role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for guiding management of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 4 Current literature evaluating the prognostic value of ¹⁸F-fluorodexoyglucose positron emission tomography in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with treatments other than surgical resection and liver transplantation

First author	Year	No. of patients	Study design	PET parameter	Cut-off values of PET parameter	Treatment	Findings
Song et al[64]	2012	83	Retrospective	TLR	1.90	TACE	Patients with low TLR ratios had significantly longer overall survival than those with high ratios, but, no significant difference of time-to-progression was shown between them
Song et al[65]	2013	58	Retrospective	TLR	1.70	TACE	FDG PET can predict response to TACE and tumor progression
Ma et al[66]	2014	27	Retrospective	ΔTSUVmax%	0.1	TACE	ΔTSUVmax% can predict response to TACE and overall survival
Kim et al[67]	2015	77	Retrospective	TLR	1.83	TACE	TLR was an independent predictor of overall survival and tumor progression
Kim et al[68]	2011	107	Retrospective	SUV	6.1	CCRT	SUV was significantly associated with progression-free survival and overall survival, and patients with high SUV was more likely to have extrahepatic metastasis
Huang et al[69]	2013	31	Retrospective	SUV	3.2	SABR	SUV was the significant prognostic indicator of disease control rate
Rhee et al[70]	2017	228	Retrospective	SUV, TLR	4.825,2.355	Radiotherapy	Low FDG uptake group had better treatment response, longer median progression-free and overall survival
Kucuk et al[71]	2013	19	Retrospective	Visual analysis	-	Radioembolization	High FDG uptake lesions unexpectedly had better progression-free survival rates
Sabet et al[72]	2014	33	Retrospective	Visual analysis	-	Radioembolization	Findings on pre-therapeutic PET and relative changes of FDG uptake on post-therapeutic PET independently predict overall survival
Soydal et al[73]	2015	28	Retrospective	Visual analysis, SUV	Not specified	Radioembolization	Age, serum AFP level, and tumor size were significantly associated with survival, but, SUV showed no significant association
Abuodeh et al[74]	2016	34	Retrospective	Visual analysis	-	Radioembolization	FDG avidity independently predicts local liver control, distant liver control, and progression-free survival
Jreige et al[75]	2017	48	Prospective	SUV, TLR	5.0,2.0	Radioembolization	Both SUV and TLR were predictive markers of overall survival
Lee et al[76]	2011	29	Retrospective	SUV	5.0	Sorafenib	SUV was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival
Sung et al[40]	2018	35	Retrospective	TLR	2.9	Sorafenib	TLR was significant predictor for progression-free survival and overall survival

FDG: ¹⁸F-fluorodexoyglucose; PET: Positron emission tomography; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; TLR: Tumor-to-non-tumor liver uptake ratio; ΔTSUVmax%: Relative changes of maximum FDG uptake of tumor between pre-therapeutic and post-therapeutic FDG PET scans; SUV: Standardized uptake value; TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization; CCRT: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy; SABR: Streotactic ablative radiotherapy; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.