Retrospective analysis shows SUVmax correlates with PET accuracy in lung cancer lymph node staging, indicating implications for diagnostics.
Key Points
The study aims to analyze the relationship between primary tumor SUVmax and the diagnostic accuracy of PET in detecting mediastinal lymph node metastases.
Retrospective analysis using an institutional database of 774 patients who underwent lung cancer surgery.
Assessment of PET performance metrics (sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV) based on different SUVmax groups.
Logistic regression analysis to evaluate associations between patient characteristics and false negative PET results.
PET demonstrated a sensitivity of 59% and specificity of 76% for detecting lymph node metastasis.
Significant sensitivity differences were found between SUVmax < 10 and SUVmax > 15 (p = 0.007), and between SUVmax 10-15 and > 15 (p = 0.001).
Clinical factors such as age, BMI, sex, tumor location, and histological type had no significant impact on the risk of false negative PET results.