Metabolic active tumour volume quantified on [18F]FDG PET/CT further stratifies TNM stage IV non-small cell lung cancer patients

Purpose This study aimed to assess whether the whole body metabolic active tumour volume (MTV WB ), quantified on staging [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT, could further stratify stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods A group of 160 stage IV NSCLC patients, submitted to staging [ 18 F]FDG PET/CT between July 2010 and May 2020, were retrospectively evaluated. MTV WB was quantified. Univariate and multivariate Cox regressions were carried out to assess correlation with overall survival (OS). C-statistic was used to test predictive power. Kaplan–Meier survival curves with Log-Rank tests were performed to compute statistical differences between strata from dichotomized variables and to calculate the estimated mean survival times (EMST). Survival rates at 1 and 5 years were calculated. Results MTV WB was a statistically significant predictor of OS on univariate ( p