Dual-time-point FDG PET/CT: Is It Useful for Lymph Node Staging in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer?

Purpose Dual-time-point (DTP) FDG PET/CT has been shown to be useful for lymph node (LN) staging in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the LN staging ability of DTP FDG PET/CT in the predominant area of pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods Sixty-nine NSCLC patients underwent DTP PET/CT. Regions of interest were placed on each LN of each station, and the maximum SUVs were measured. Three variables were obtained: (1) the SUV on the early scan (SUV early ), (2) the SUV on the delayed scan (SUV delayed ), and (3) the retention index of the SUV (RI). Each patient had one final LN stage and three other LN stages according to the cutoff values of SUV early , SUV delayed , and RI. Results In the LN-based analysis, the area under the ROC curve of SUV delayed (0.884) was significantly larger ( P