Prognostic Value of Pre-treatment F-18 FDG PET Metabolic Metrics in Patients with Locally Advanced Carcinoma of the Anus with and without HIV Infection

Aim: To investigate the prognostic value of F-18 FDG PET metabolic parameters in patients with anal carcinoma with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV). Methods: Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were obtained on F-18 FDG PET/CT images of treatment-naive patients with locally advanced anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASSC). We compared patients' characteristics and F-18 FDG PET metabolic metrics between the HIV-infected patients and the HIV-uninfected patients. We did a simple Cox regression analysis followed by a multiple Cox regression analysis to determine factors predictive of death. Results: We studied 33 patients including 21 HIV-infected individuals, mean age = 46.06 +/- 12.59, female = 16, males = 17. Median CD4 count among HIV-infected patients was 400.50 cells/mm(3) (IQR: 304.0-642.25). HIV-infected patients were younger than the HIV-uninfected patients at the time of diagnosis; 38.71 +/- 7.98 vs. 58.92 +/- 7.88 respectively,