18F-FDG positron emission tomography for mediastinal staging of lung cancer]

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of (18)F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) in mediastinal staging of lung cancer. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of mediastinal staging was carried out in 41 cases of lung cancer by comparing the preoperative mediastinal FDG PET and CT findings with the pathological results. RESULTS: According to the pathological results, 18 patients had mediastinal metastasis, 17 of whom were correctly identified by FDG PET, and 10 by CT. Of the other 23 patients without mediastinal metastasis pathologically, 22 were correctly diagnosed by FDG PET and 20 by CT. The sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosis of regional mediastinal lymph node metastasis with FDG PET were 94.4% and 95.1%, obviously higher than those of CT (55.6% and 73.2%, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: FDG PET is a better alternative for mediastinal staging of lung cancer, specially for identification of small lymph node metastasis escaping detection by CT, to provide important evidence for clinical staging and treatment planning of lung cancer.