The Value Of¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT Imaging In Diagnosis Of Pulmonary Diseases

Objective:To evaluate the value of18F-FDG PET-CT imaging in differentiation of malignant feom benign lung nodules,and investigate the correlation between SUVmax and clinicopathological factors of non-small cell lung cancer, and to explore the value of SUVmax to the prognosis of NSCLC.Methods:119patients underwent PET/CT imaging after intravenous injection of18F-FDG between October2007-April2011. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and retention index (RI) of region of interesting were calculated. The histological diagnosis or clinical findings in a12months follow period served as the standard of truth.Result:In87patients with malignant disease and34patients with benign disease (there were2patients who suffer from both lung cancer and benign disease), there were15patients with benign diseaseas who have positive imaging, while7patients with lung cancer who have negative imaging, the sensitivity, speciality and accuracy of18F-FDG PET-CT imaging in differentiation of malignant from benign lung nodules were0.920,0.559,0.393. in NSCLC patients, the differences of SUVmax were significant between tumor sizes of>3and≤3cm (P<0.001), SUVmax did not show a correlation with the size of primary tumor in quamous cell carcinoma and alveolar cell carcinoma (P=0.943,0.443), but positive correlation was seen in adenocarcinoma carcinoma (r=0.401, P=0.014). SUVmax had correlation with pathological type, and tumor staging, but had nothing to do with age, sex, N staging or lymph nodes metastasis,pathological grading. SUVmax less than cut-off value of7.57exhibited overall survival of46.40±4.06months while as SUVmax more than7.57possessed29.70±3.52months respectively, the2-y survival rate were73.0%and43.3%respectively (P=0.014).Conclusion:the sensitivity was high but the speciality was low of F-FDG PET/CT imaging in differentiation of malignant from benign lung nodules. The SUVmax of primary lesion was correlation to tumor sizes, pathological type, and tumor staging and prognosis, but had nothing to do with age, sex, lymph nodes metastasis, pathological grading.