Table 2.
Current literature evaluating the prognostic value of 18F-fluorodexoyglucose positron emission tomography in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with surgical resection
| First author | Year | No. of patients | Study design | PET parameter | Cut-off values of PET parameter | Findings |
| Hatano et al[41] | 2006 | 31 | Retrospective | TLR | 2.0 | TLR showed significant positive association with overall survival |
| Ahn et al[47] | 2011 | 93 | Retrospective | SUV, TLR | 4.0, 2.0 | High SUV and TLR were predictors for early recurrence, but showed no statistical significance on multivariate analysis |
| Kitamura et al[42] | 2012 | 63 | Retrospective | TLR | 2.0 | TLR was an independent predictor for early recurrence |
| Han et al[43] | 2014 | 298 | Retrospective | SUV | 3.5 | SUV was an independent predictor for recurrence-free survival and overall survival |
| Baek et al[48] | 2015 | 54 | Retrospective | Tumor-to-muscle ratio | 6.36 | Tumor-to-muscle ratio was associated with recurrence-free survival, but, no statistical significance on multivariate analysis |
| Cho et al[44] | 2017 | 56 | Retrospective | SUV | 4.9 | Recurrence rate was higher in patients with high SUV, but, no significant difference of disease-free survival and overall survival according to SUV |
| Hwang et al[50] | 2018 | 526 | Retrospective | Visual analysis | - | Combination of ADV score and PET finding can predict risk of early recurrence and survival |
| Kim et al[49] | 2018 | 226 HBV-related HCC | Retrospective | Visual analysis | - | Positive PET finding was associated with overall survival, but, not a predisposing factor for disease-free survival in HBV-related HCC patients |
| Lim et al[45] | 2018 | 78 | Prospective | Visual analysis | - | Positive PET finding was an independent predictor for early recurrence |
| Yoh et al[46] | 2018 | 207 | Retrospective | TLR | 2.0 | Prognostic model incorporating ALBI grade and PET finding can predict the disease-free survival and overall survival |
FDG: 18F-fluorodexoyglucose; PET: Positron emission tomography; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; TLR: Tumor-to-non-tumor liver uptake ratio; SUV: Standardized uptake value; ADV: Alpha-fetoprotein-Des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin-tumor volume; ALBI: Albumin-bilirubin.