Abstract
PURPOSE: Preoperative F-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) imaging results appear to predict tumor recurrence and patient survival. The present study compared outcomes between PET-positive and PET-negative groups with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who underwent curative hepatectomy and assessed the prognostic value of positive PET-CT for HCC recurrence and death. METHODS: This study included patients who underwent liver resection of solitary HCC between 2007 and 2014 based on preoperative radiological images. There were 133 patients in the PET-positive group and 93 in the PET-negative group. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in baseline, perioperative, or pathologic characteristics between the 2 groups except HBsAg titer, tumor size, and presence of bile duct tumor thrombi. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor size >3.5 cm and HBsAg titer >1,000 cutoff index were predisposing factors of positive PET-CT. Disease-free survival and overall survival rate at 1, 3, and 5 years were 76.3%, 64.4%, 60.3% and 96.8%, 91.1%, 85.1% in the PET-negative group, respectively, compared with 70.7%, 62.2%, 58.9% and 98.5%, 97.0%, 97.0% in the PET-positive group (P = 0.547 and P = 0.046). Multivariate analysis showed that positive PET-CT was closely associated with increased patient survival, but was not related to HCC recurrence. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that positive PET findings are not a predisposing factor for recurrence of HBV-related HCC patients, but appear to be associated with improved patient survival. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm the prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET in these patients.