[Clinical value of computed tomography and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron remission tomography in diagnosis of mediastinal metastasis of non small cell lung cancer].

Objective: To compare the clinical values of computed tomography (CT) and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron remission tomography (FDG-PET) in diagnosis of mediastinal metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Sixty patients with respectable NSCLC underwent CT and FDG-PET with an interval of 2 weeks and then underwent thoracotomy for clearance of the lymph nodes or biopsy of the mediastinal lymph nodes via mediastinoscopy. The specimens of mediastinal lymph node underwent HE staining and PCNA/Ki67 immunohistochemical staining. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive prediction value, and negative prediction value in diagnosis of metastasis of mediastinal lymph nodes of these 2 procedures were compared.

Results: The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive prediction value, and negative prediction value in diagnosis of metastasis of mediastinal lymph nodes were 92.3%, 87.5%, 91.2%, 96.0%, and 77.7% respectively for FDG-PET, and were 76.9%, 50.0%, 70.6%, 83.3%, and 40.0% respectively for CT. The sensitivity rate was 98% for CT plus FDG-PET.

Conclusion: PET is superior to CT in diagnosis of metastasis of NSCLC to mediastinal lymph nodes. PET + CT significantly increases the sensitivity in diagnosis.