(18)F-Fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography (FMISO-PET) may reflect hypoxia and cell proliferation activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Hypoxia is a common feature and prognostic factor in cancer. (18)F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) positron emission tomography (PET) can detect tumor hypoxia noninvasively. The aim of this study was to assess the correlations between FMISO-PET and (18) F-fluorodexyglucose (FDG)-PET parameters with cell proliferation and hypoxia in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-three preoperative patients with OSCC were included. The tumor/muscle ratio (TMR) of FMISO-PET, the maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of FDG-PET, metabolic tumor volume, and total lesion glycolysis were measured. Ki-67 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression was immunohistochemically evaluated.

RESULTS: FMISO TMR (P = .003) and FDG SUVmax (P = .04) were significantly higher in patients with high expression of Ki-67 compared with those with low expression of Ki-67. FMISO TMR (P = .006) and FDG SUVmax (P = .01) were also significantly higher in patients with HIF-1α expression than in those without HIF-1α expression. Metabolic tumor volume was not significantly related to either Ki-67 or HIF-1α expression. Multivariate analysis showed that FMISO TMR was independently predictive of Ki-67 (P = .002; odds ratio 31.1) and HIF-1α (P = .049; odds ratio 10.5) expression.

CONCLUSIONS: FMISO-PET showed significant relationships with Ki-67 and HIF-1α expression, which are key features of cell proliferation and hypoxia in OSCC.