Role of the pretreatment F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography maximal standardized uptake value in predicting outcomes of colon liver metastases and that value's association with Beclin-1 expression.

The current study sought to evaluate the predictive and prognostic performance of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) prior to treatment in 43 patients with colon cancer and unresectable liver metastases. Patients with colon cancer who underwent F-FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT) scans for staging before the start of first-line 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Expression of Beclin-1 in cancer cells was evaluated in primary tumors using immunohistochemical staining.