Abstract:
Objective This study assesses the prognostic significance of the uptake level of mediastinal lymph nodes of fluo- ro-2-deoxy-D-glucose in patients undergoing curative resection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have histologically nega- tive mediastinal lymph nodes (N0-N, stage).
Methods Preoperative positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (PET/CT) data and clinical follow-up materials of patients who underwent curative surgery with pathologic No-NL stage of NSCLC at the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital from April 2005 to May 2009 were reviewed, Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of mediastinal lymph nodes and primary tumor, as well as gender, age, histologic type, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, and postopera- tive adjuvant therapy, were compared to determine their association with patient survival. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used in the univariate analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression model was used in the multivariate analysis.
Results For the N0-N NSCLC patients, univariate analysis showed that SUVmax of mediastinal lymph nodes (P= 0.001), TNM staging (P < 0.001), SUVmax of primary tumor (P=0.001), and postoperative adjuvant therapy (P=0.012) were significant predictors of survival. Multivariate anal- ysis showed that TNM staging (P=0.017) and SUVmax of primary tumor (P=0.027) and mediastinal lymph nodes (P=0.046) were inde- pendent predictors of survival with relative risks of 2.230, 2.179, and 1.962, respectively.
Conclusion According to the SUVmax of medi- astinal lymph nodes in the preoperative PET/CT imaging and TNM staging, SUVmax of primary tumor is the predictor for N0-N NSCLC patient survival. These results have important implications for guiding individual treatment after surgery and for prolonging patient sur- vival.