Differences in the Prognostic Significance of the SUVmax between Patients with Resected Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of the maximumstandardized uptake value (SUVmax) on F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)in patients undergoing surgical treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and
Methods: Seventy-eightconsecutive patients (58 with adenocarcinomas, 20 with squamous cell carcinomas) treated with potentiallycurative surgery were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: The SUVmax was significantly higher in the patientswith recurrent than with non-recurrent adenocarcinoma (p<0.01). However, among the patients with squamouscell carcinoma, there were no differences with or without recurrence (p=0.69). Multivariate analysis indicatedthat the SUVmax of adenocarcinoma lesions was a significant predictor of disease-free survival (p=0.04). Inaddition, an SUVmax of 6.19, the cut-off point based on ROC curve analysis of the patients with pathological IBor more advanced stage adenocarcinomas, was found to be a significant predictor of disease-free survival (p<0.01).
Conclusions: SUVmax is a useful predictor of disease-free survival in patients with resected adenocarcinoma, butnot squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with adenocarcinoma exhibiting an SUVmax above 6.19 are candidatesfor more intensive adjuvant therapy.