Prediction of survival with combining quantitative ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and DW-MRI parameters in sinonasal malignancies

Background: We aimed to establish the prognostic value of ¹⁸F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission/CT (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT) and diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI in determining overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of sinonasal malignancies. Methods: Sixty-eight patients with sinonasal cancer who underwent both pretreatment ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scan and head-neck MRI from January 2009 through August 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and DW-MRI parameters were performed for OS, PFS, and DMFS. Results: Cox regression analysis determined that all the quantitative ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and DW-MRI parameters were independently correlated with PFS, DMFS, and OS (P <.05). After controlling for imaging variables, perineural invasion (P =.02) and ill-defined margin (P =.02) were found to be significantly correlated with shorter OS; while the perineural invasion was significantly correlated with shorter PFS (P =.02). Conclusions: The pretreatment DW-MRI and ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT parameters could be substantial surrogate markers for sinonasal malignancies.