ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of SUV_max fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) measured in the primary tumor, pelvic and para-aortic node with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.Methods and MaterialsA total of 92 patients with histological diagnosis of locally advanced cervical cancer are treated with radiochemotherapy plus brachytherapy boost from January 2008 to April 2014 in our Institution. A pretreatment FDG-PET/CT for staging and radiotherapy planning was performed, and the value of SUV_max measured in primary tumor and positive nodes was related to DFS and OS.ResultsUnivariate analysis showed that DFS is related to FDG-PET/CT positive para-aortic nodes (P = 0.01), International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage of disease (P = 0.01), and primary tumor SUV_max (P = 0.02), and OS is related to positive para-aortic nodes (P = 0.01) and primary tumor SUV_max (P = 0.02).In multivariate analysis, DFS is modified by FDG-PET/CT positive para-aortic lymph nodes, stage and high T SUV_max (P = 0.02; P = 0.003; P = 0.04), but the only worse prognostic factor of OS is the high SUV_max in the primary tumor (P = 0.01).ConclusionsWe found that T SUV_max, stage, and para-aortic lymph node status assessed by FDG-PET were independent prognostic factors of DFS, whereas only T SUV_max correlated with OS.