Maximum standardized uptake values of primary lesion on ^sup 18^F-FDG PET/CT is associated with clinicopathologic parameters in NSCLC patients

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between the preoperative maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of primary lesion measured on 18F-FDG PET/CT and clinicopathologic parameters in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: A total of 111 patients with histologically proven NSCLC by surgery, who had undergone preoperative 18F-FDG imaging, were examined retrospectively in our study. The clinicopathologic parameters (gender, age, TNM stage, N stage, M stage, pathologic subtype, tumor size, Ki-67 LI of primary tumor) and the SUVmax of primary tumor measured on 18F-FDG PET/CT were collected. Firstly, the correlationship between SUVmax and the clinicopathologic parameters was analyzed with multiple linear regression. Secondly, the characters were categorized depending on clinicopathologic parameters respectively, and between/among the groups the values of SUVmax were compared with Wilcoxon or Kruskal-Wallis test. Lastly, the relevance between SUVmax and Ki-67 LI was studied by rank correlation analysis. Pathologic stage was assigned according to the seventh IASLC TNM staging system. All data was analyzed by the statistic software of SAS 9.2. p