Abstract:
To explore the effects of body mass index (BMI) and gender on primary lung cancer 18F-FDG uptake param -eters, standardized uptake value (SUV), and standard uptake value of lean body mass (SUL). Methods:Data of 50patients with prima -ry lung cancer confirmed by 18F-FDG positron emission tomography(PET) / computed tomography (CT) were retrospectively analyzed. AW4.6 workstation was employed to measure the SUVmean and SUVmax. Meanwhile, PETVCAR (PET Volume Computed Assisted Reading, GE Healthcare) software was used to automatically measure the SULmean, SULmax, and SULpeak. The SUVmean, SUV max, SULmean, and SULmax of the liver (central region of the right lobe) were also measured automatically by PETVCAR. Afterward, T/N ratios (lesion SUVmax/liver SUVmean, lesion SULmax/ liver SULmean, and lesion SULpeak/liver SULmean) of the lung cancer lesions were calculated. Correlations of the 18F-FDG metabolic parameters with BMI and gender of the patients were analyzed. Results: Liver SUVmean and SUVmax demonstrated significant positive correlations with BMI in all the patients ( γ =0.38and 0.36, P<0.05), and the SUVmean and SUVmax were positively correlated with BMI in male and female groups ( γ =0.47and 0.44, P<0.05), respective -ly. By contrast, no correlation existed between the liver SULmean and SULmax and BMI ( P>0.05). No significant correlation was not -ed between the SUVmean, SUVmax, SULmean, SULmax, and SULpeak of the lung cancer lesions and BMI ( P>0.05). The correlation trend is the same as that in different gender groups. Only the SUVmax T/N ratio of the lung cancer lesions showed a significant nega -tive correlation with BMI ( γ =−0.29, P<0.05). The T/N ratios did not correlate with BMI in the different gender groups ( P>0.05). Con -clusion: Patient BMI and gender mainly affect SUV values, particularly SUVmax, by contrast, patient BMI and gender did not signifi -cantly influence SUL and T/N ratio (SUL). Hence, SUL can be more suitable to quantitatively analyze and assess treatment response objectively. This result will be helpful to the clinical application and promotion of PERCIST, which evaluates treatment response mainly by SUL.