Objective: To evaluate the ability of 18FDG-PET in the identification of pulmonary mass and preoperative mediastinal lymph node staging of lung cancer.
Methods: Thirty-four patients with pulmonary neoplasm were evaluated with 18FDG-PET and CT scan respectively. PET data were analyzed semiquantitatively by calculating standardized uptake value (SUV) and also by a visual method. PET and CT results were compared with pathological results.
Results: When the visual method was used, the sensitivity and accuracy for detection of malignant mass of 18FDG-PET were 93% and 85% respectively, whereas those of CT were 63% and 53% (P < 0.05) respectively. The accuracy of preoperative mediastinal lymph node staging was 100% by PET and 78% by CT (P < 0.05). Semiquantitative method also provided an accuracy of 74% for detection of malignant mass.
Conclusions: Compared with CT, 18FDG-PET was more accurate to discriminate the property of tumor and mediastinal lymph node stage status of lung cancer.