Abstract:
Objective To investigate the correlation between findings from 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT and pathology of gastric cancer.
Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on data collected from 101 patients with gastric cancer, including 73 males and 28 females, aged 25−81 ( 59.74±11.39) years old, who underwent PET/CT examination and surgical treatment in Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital from October 2011 to June 2016. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in primary lesion, thickness of primary lesions, and lymph node metastasis in PET/CT were recorded. According to gender, age, location of primary lesion, length of primary lesion, pathological type and differentiation degree of primary lesion, TNM (tumor, node, metastasis) stage and clinical stage. Independent sample t test and one-way ANOVA were used to evaluate the difference in SUVmax between each group. Pearson correlation analysis was employed to examine the relationship between SUVmax and the size of primary lesion. Indices with statistical differences were included in multivariate Logistic regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between lymph node metastasis and each factor.
Results Difference of SUVmax in length (<4 cm: 3.774±1.062, 4 cm≤D<8 cm: 6.552±3.695, ≥8 cm: 5.592±2.305), location (gastric fundus and cardia: 7.157±4.425, gastric body: 4.710±2.010, gastric antrum: 6.137±3.069), and pathological type of gastric cancer (signet ring cell carcinoma: 4.176±1.724, non-signet ring cell carcinoma: 5.998±3.295) were statistically significant (t=7.022, P=0.001; t=5.564, P=0.005; t=2.212, P=0.029). The results of Pearson correlation analysis showed that SUVmax was positively correlated with the length, width and thickness of gastric cancer (r=0.209, P=0.036; r=0.245, P=0.013; r=0.359, P<0.001). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of PET/CT in the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer were 71.3% (57/80), 81.0% (17/21) and 73.3% (74/101), respectively. The result of multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that T stage is an independent correlation factor for lymph node metastasis (OR=12.648, 95%CI=3.905−40.961, P<0.001).
Conclusions The SUVmax of primary gastric cancer lesion is related to size, location, and pathological type. T stage is an independent predictor of lymph node metastasis.