F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in predicting lymph node metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods:
The clinical data of 125 NSCLC patients who underwent
18
F-FDG PET/CT examination and confirmed by pathology before treatment were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into lymph node metastasis group (
n
=38) and non-lymph node metastasis group (
n
=87). The relationship between clinical factors and maximum standardized uptake (SUV
max
)
metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) was analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the value of SUV
max
MTV and TLG in predicting lymph node metastasis in NSCLC.
Results:
SUV
max
(16.28
vs
10.05)
MTV (32.74 cm
3
vs
22.37 cm
3
) and TLG (241.50
vs
215.30) in lymph node metastasis group were significantly higher than those in non-lymph node metastasis group (
P
<0.01). SUV
max
MTV and TLG in patients with lymph node metastasis were correlated with TNM stage and maximum diameter of the lesion (
P
<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the best cut-off values of SUV
max
MTV and TLG for predicting NSCLC lymph node metastasis were 13.40
27.24 cm
3
and 230.53
respectively. The AUC of MTV (0.874
95% CI: 0.808-0.937) predicting NSCLC lymph node metastasis were significantly higher than SUV
max
(0.776
95% CI: 0.719-0.832) and TLG (0.738
95% CI: 0.685-0.802)
with sensitivity and specificity of 89.3% and 84.2%.
Conclusion:
18
F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters have a certain value in predicting lymph node metastasis of NSCLC