18F-FDG-PET Can Predict Microvessel Density in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Aim: Positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluordeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) plays an essential role in the staging and tumor monitoring of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Microvessel density (MVD) is one of the clinically important histopathological features in HNSCC. The purpose of this study was to analyze possible associations between 18F-FDG-PET findings and MVD parameters in HNSCC. Materials and Methods: Overall, 22 patients with a mean age of 55.2 ± 11.0 and with different HNSCC were acquired. In all cases, whole-body 18F-FDG-PET was performed. For each tumor, the maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax; SUVmean) were determined. The MVD, including stained vessel area and total number of vessels, was estimated on CD105 stained specimens. All specimens were digitalized and analyzed by using ImageJ software 1.48v. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to analyze associations between investigated parameters. p-values of <0.05 were taken to indicate statistical significance. Results: SUVmax correlated with vessel area (r = 0.532, p = 0.011) and vessel count (r = 0.434, p = 0.043). Receiver operating characteristic analysis identified a threshold SUVmax of 15 to predict tumors with high MVD with a sensitivity of 72.7% and specificity of 81.8%, with an area under the curve of 82.6%. Conclusion: 8F-FDG-PET parameters correlate statistically significantly with MVD in HNSCC. SUVmax may be used for discrimination of tumors with high tumor-related MVD.