Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomographic maximal standardized uptake value predicts survival independent of clinical but not pathologic TNM staging of resected non–small cell lung cancer

Survival after resection stratified by optimal value for maximal tumor diameter.

Survival after resection stratified by histology (P < .01 for adenocarcinoma [Adeno] vs other, P = .05 for adenocarcinoma vs squamous, P = .05 for squamous vs other).

Survival after resection stratified by optimal value for maximal standardized uptake value of the primary tumor.

Survival stratified by a combination of the optimal values for standardized uptake value (SUV) and tumor size, demonstrating that patients with a tumor size of greater than 2.5 cm and an SUV of greater than 4.3 had significantly worse survival when compared with all other patients (P < .01).

Survival stratified by a combination of histology and pathologic TNM stage.

Survival stratified by a combination of histology, standardized uptake value, and tumor size.

Histograms of distribution of standardized uptake value (SUV) within each histologic type. The median SUV for adenocarcinoma (Adeno) was significantly different from the squamous and other histologies (P < .01). The median values for squamous carcinoma and histologies categorized as “other” were not different (P = .69).

Survival curves for patients with clinical stage IA (top left), IB (top right), and II to IV (bottom left) disease stratified by the optimal value for standardized uptake value (SUV; 4.3) demonstrating interaction between SUV and clinical TNM stage.

Histograms of the distribution of standardized uptake value (SUV) within each stage group. SUV in stage IA disease is significantly lower than that in stage IB disease (P < .01) and stage II to IV disease (P < .01). SUV distribution in stage IB and stage II to IV disease was not different (P = .39).

Survival after resection stratified by pathologic TNM stage (IA vs IB vs II-IV).

Pathologic stage IA disease stratified by optimal standardized uptake value.

Pathologic stage IB disease stratified by optimal standardized uptake value.

Pathologic stage II to IV disease stratified by optimal standardized uptake value.