[Evaluation of SPECT in lymph node staging for lung cancer].

Objective: To assess the usefulness of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in detection of mediastinal lymph node metastasis from lung cancer.

Methods: Computed tomography (CT) and SPECT were performed in 110 patients with lung cancer. Surgical staging was performed in all patients, and the results of the two modalities were compared with the pathologic findings.

Results: Cancerous nodes were found in 56.4% of the patients. The sensitivity of CT in detecting mediastinal node metastasis was 63.6%; specificity was 69.7%. These rates for SPECT were 83.3% and 67.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracy of CT and SPECT were 67.3% and 70.9%, respectively. However, SPECT had more limited spatial resolution than did CT.

Conclusion: SPECT is useful in evaluation of mediastinal node metastasis in lung cancer, especially for patients with enlarged nodes at CT.