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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Imaging and Image-directed Interventions
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1448444
This article is part of the Research Topic Precision Medical Imaging for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment - Vol. II View all 31 articles

Abbreviated dual time-point FDG-PET/MR for predicting outcomes of pancreatic cancer: Diagnostic accuracy and 10-year survival prognostic value

Provisionally accepted
Freimut Dankwart Juengling Freimut Dankwart Juengling 1,2*Ines Valenta-Schindler Ines Valenta-Schindler 3Alin Chirindel Alin Chirindel 4
  • 1 University of Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • 2 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • 3 Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
  • 4 University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: To optimize and assess an abbreviated dual time-point 18-Fluor-Deoxyglucose (FDG)-Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) protocol for predicting patient outcomes in pancreatic cancer. Methods: 70 patients (47 pancreatic cancer, 23 chronic pancreatitis) underwent hybrid PET/MRI with dual time-point PET/CT at 60 and 84 minutes post-injection. Metabolic indices (MI) were calculated from Standardized Uptake Value (SUV) changes (SUVmin, SUVmean and SUVmax).Multivariate analysis was performed on PET, MRI, laboratory, and histologic data. Top predictors were used for survival analysis.Results: MI SUVmax, thresholded at 11%, was the best outcome predictor, distinguishing highrisk (2year (2y)-Overall Survival (OAS) 32%, 5y-OAS 14%, 10y-OAS 8%) and low-risk groups (2y-OAS 76%, 5y-OAS 32%, 10y-OAS 23%). Tumor size, CBD obstruction, and infiltrative disease had lower predictive value.: Metabolic indices from abbreviated dual time-point FDG-PET/MRI can differentiate pancreatic malignancy from pancreatitis and predict outcomes, outperforming other indices. This protocol offers a valuable diagnostic tool for characterizing pancreatic lesions and predicting outcomes based on imaging criteria.

    Keywords: Pancreatic Cancer, Molecular Imaging, dual time-point FDG-PET/MR, Pancreatic Lesions, Outcome, overall survival, kinetic analysis

    Received: 13 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Juengling, Valenta-Schindler and Chirindel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Freimut Dankwart Juengling, University of Bern, Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.