Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2007 Feb;41(1):16-21.

Improved Specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT for Lymph Node Staging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Considering Calcified Lymph Node as Benign

• Kwon SY
• Seo YS
• Min JJ
• Song HC
• Na KJ
• Choi C
• Kim YC
• Kim YH
• Bom HS

Abstract

PURPOSE: We evaluated the diagnostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT (PET/CT) in lymph node staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) considering calcification and histologic types as well as FDG uptake.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifty-three patients (38 men, 15 women; mean age, 62 years) with NSCLC underwent surgical resection (tumor resection and lymph node dissection) after PET/CT. After surgery, we compared PET/CT results with the biopsy results, and analyzed lymph node metastases, based on histologic types. PET diagnosis of lymph node metastasis was determined by maximum SUV (maxSUV) > 3.0, and PET/CT diagnosis was determined by maxSUV > 3.0 without lymph node calcification.
RESULTS
By PET diagnosis, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of overall lymph node staging were 45% (13 of 29), 91% (228 of 252), and 86% (241 of 281). Specificity was 91% in both squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, while sensitivity was 71% in squamous cell carcinoma and 36% in adenocarcinoma. When we excluded calcified lymph node with maxSUV > 3.0 from metastasis by PET/CT diagnosis, specificity improved to 98% in squamous cell carcinoma and 97% in adenocarcinoma. The degree of improvement was not dependent on histologic types.
CONCLUSION
PET/CT improved specificity of lymph node staging by reducing false positive lymph node regardless of histologic types of NSCLC.

Keyword

non-small cell lung cancer; lymph node staging; calcification; histology; 18F-FDG PET/CT

MeSH Terms

Adenocarcinoma
Biopsy
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung*
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell
Diagnosis
Female
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18*
Humans
Lymph Nodes*
Male
Neoplasm Metastasis
Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography*
Sensitivity and Specificity*
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18