Fluorodeoxyglucose Uptake in Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer With and Without Pulmonary Lymphangitic Carcinomatosis

To assess the correlation between advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with or without pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis (PLC) and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and its effect on survival outcomes. We retrospectively reviewed 157 patients with NSCLC. The mean and maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmean and SUVmax, respectively), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were evaluated for their effect on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The PLC group included 55 patients and the non-PLC group included 102 patients. The SUVmean, SUVmax, MTV and TLG values were lower in the non-PLC group. In the PLC group, primary lung tumor TLG was a significant predictor of PFS, while whole-body TLG was found to be a significant predictor in non-PLC patients. Primary lung tumor TLG was a good predictor in PLC patients. Whole-body TLG could be a useful predictor only in patients without PLC.