en Radiation Biology Radiation Biology تحقيق بديع Original Research <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="text-justify:newspaper"><span style="text-kashida-space:50%"><span style="line-height:119%"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:black"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">Background</span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">:</span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="language:en-US">In the present study, PET/CT imaging characteristics were explored to investigate the prognostic value of 18F&ndash;fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). </span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">Materials and Methods</span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">:</span></span></span></span></span> <span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="language:en-US">Baseline PET/CT and clinical characteristics were collected in 125 patients with ESCC treated with radical radiotherapy from 2007&ndash;2016. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary gross tumour (SUVmax-T) and metastatic lymph nodes (SUVmax-N) were separately measured using X-tile. Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were estimated according to the Kaplan&ndash;Meier method. A multivariate Cox model was used to establish the independent prognostic factors. </span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">Results: </span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="language:en-US">The gross tumours presented higher 18F-FDG uptake than normal tissues. The OS and PFS did not show significant differences between patients with different SUVmax-T values. However, patients with SUVmax-N &ge; 11 had a significantly worse OS and PFS than those with SUVmax-N <11 (P<0.05). A weak correlation was observed in SUVmax-T and SUVmax-N. The OS and PFS of patients with PET-negative lymph nodes (LNs) were significantly better than those with PET-positive LNs. However, the OS and PFS of patients with one or two PET-positive LNs were not significantly better than those with more than two PET-positive LNs. In multivariate analysis, SUVmax-N was suggested to be an independent predictor for OS and PFS. </span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:#1f497d"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="language:en-US">Conclusions: </span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="language:en-US">SUVmax-N, but not SUVmax-T, is an independent prognostic indicator for patients with ESCC.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div> SUV, positron emission tomography, metabolic lymph node, survival. 265 270 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-1168&slc_lang=en&sid=1 J. Deng 7900319475328460026651 7900319475328460026651 No Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Shanghai, 200032, China W. Ren 7900319475328460026652 7900319475328460026652 No Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Shanghai, 200032, China J. Shen 7900319475328460026653 7900319475328460026653 No Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Shanghai, 200032, China L. Ma 7900319475328460026654 7900319475328460026654 No Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University; Shanghai, 200032, China K. Zhao zhaokuaile1153@163.com 7900319475328460026655 7900319475328460026655 Yes Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center; Shanghai, 200032, China