Preoperative 18F‐FDG PET/CT and high‐risk HPV in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the association of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) and high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) status and to establish the histologic correlates in oropharyngeal cancer (OPSCC). METHOD: The medical records of 78 patients who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT for OPSCC before surgery were reviewed. RESULTS: The positive rate of high-risk HPV in situ hybridization was 36% (28 of 78). The maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax ) of negativity for the high-risk HPV subtypes (10.29 ± 4.30) and positivity (6.69 ± 4.17) were found to be significantly different (p = .001). The SUVmax cutoff value for differentiating negativity for the high-risk HPV subtypes from positivity was 7.10, with the sensitivity of 78% and the specificity of 68%. A median SUVmax (using 7.10 as a cutoff) (p = .041) and high-risk HPV status (p = .040) were found to be associated with 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS). CONCLUSIONS: Median (18)F-FDG PET/CT SUVmax cutoff values 7.10 or greater are associated with a high-risk HPV negativity in OPSCC patients.