Relationship between maximum standardized uptake value of 18F-FDG PET-CT and clinicopathological features in pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation of clinicopathological features and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) detected by 18F-FDG PET-CT in pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma(LCNEC). Methods The clinicopathological data of 43 pulmonary LCNEC patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET-CT and were confirmed by pathology in the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University From October 2009 to May 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on factors that may affected SUVmax in the primary tumor, including the patient's age, gender, tumor location, tumor type, tumor maximum diameter, T stage, N stage, M stage, and TNM stage. Results The SUVmax and tumor maximum diameter of 43 pulmonary LCNEC patients were 11.9±4.9 and (3.2±1.4) cm, and there was a positive relation between SUVmax and tumor maximum diameter (r = 0.533, P = 0.000). The univariate analysis showed that SUVmax was correlated with tumor maximum diameter, T stage, N stage, M stage and TNM stage (all P 0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that tumor location, N stage, M stage and TNM stage were the independent influencing factors of SUVmax (OR = 2.087, 2.852, 2.315, -2.200, all P < 0.05). Primary tumor SUVmax had predictive value for lymph node metastasis, when the cut-off value was 13.5, the diagnostic efficiency was the highest, the sensitivity was 64.7%, and the specificity was 92.3%. Conclusions The SUVmax detected by 18F-FDG PET-CT in pulmonary LCNEC is correlated with tumor maximum diameter, N stage, M stage and TNM stage. Primary tumor SUVmax has a certain reference value for predicting lymph node metastasis. Key words: Lung neoplasms; Carcinoma, neuroendocrine; Tomography, X-ray computed; Tomography, emission-computed