Predictive significance of standardized uptake value parameters of FDG-PET in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma

Abstract

18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is widely used to diagnose and stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the predictive ability of different FDG standardized uptake values (SUVs) in 74 patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC. 18F-FDG PET/CT scans were performed and different SUV parameters (SUVmax, SUVavg, SUVT/L, and SUVT/A) obtained, and their relationship with clinical characteristics were investigated. Meanwhile, correlation and multiple stepwise regression analyses were performed to determine the primary predictor of SUVs for NSCLC. Age, gender, and tumor size significantly affected SUV parameters. The mean SUVs of squamous cell carcinoma were higher than those of adenocarcinoma. Poorly differentiated tumors exhibited higher SUVs than well-differentiated ones. Further analyses based on the pathologic type revealed that the SUVmax, SUVavg, and SUVT/L of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma tumors were higher than those of moderately or well-differentiated tumors. Among these four SUV parameters, SUVT/L was the primary predictor for tumor differentiation. However, in adenocarcinoma, SUVmax was the determining factor for tumor differentiation. Our results showed that these four SUV parameters had predictive significance related to NSCLC tumor differentiation; SUVT/L appeared to be most useful overall, but SUVmax was the best index for adenocarcinoma tumor differentiation.

The Impact of Pleural Lavage Cytology Before and After Resection on Prognosis

“…It is also argued that higher SUVmax values meant higher tumor proliferation capacity and poorer prognosis [16]. Recent studies based on series show that there is a correlation between PET-CT and tumor diameter [17,18]. In this study, which is a similar one, significant correlation was found between tumor diameter and lymph node involvement in PET-CT.…”

“…Besides, SUVmax value of mass had positive correla- tion with pathological stage, tumor diameter and gender. TNM staging is one of the most important methods in identifying prognosis in lung cancer [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Certain clinical factors impact on prognosis regardless of the cancer stage.…”

Prognostic impact of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary lesion on survival in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: A retrospective study

“…Fluorine-18 uorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is based on the metabolism [6,7]and glucose uptake ability of the majority of malignant tumors [2,5,8]. The standardized uptake value (SUV) is a semiquantitative measurement of the FDG uptake in tissues.…”

“…Accordingly, it can be used to evaluate tumor metabolic activity [9][10][11]. Several studies have shown a high sensitivity,speci city,and accuracy of PET/CT for diagnosis,staging [2][3][4]12],post-therapy assessment, and outcome prediction [2,4,7,8,10,11,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] as well as its utility as an accurate and non-invasive modality in clinical practice. However, the methods in these studies differ and their conclusions are not completely consistent [12,20,21].…”

Tumour metabolic activity measured by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for radiotherapy planning as a prognostic factor for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

“…However, the reliability of SUVmax remains controversial. Some studies found no correlation between SUVmax and patient prognosis or lung cancer aggressiveness (9). Reasonable explanations for this include the following: 1) SUVmax reportedly varies among PET scanners; 2) uncontrolled factors such as: glucose level, duration of the uptake period, body weight, body composition, and recovery coeffi cient introduce considerable variations in SUVmax; 3) different acquisition and image reconstruction parameters also affect SUVmax (10,11).…”