Comparison of preoperative PET-CT and pathological analyses in diagnosis of pulmonary tumors / 实用医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the consistency in 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) examination and histopathological analyses in the diagnoses of resectable lung tumors. Methods Retrospective reviews over the clinical data of lung tumor patients by preoperative PET-CT diagnosis and postoperative histopathological diagnosis were conducted to investigate the effects of the two diagnostic methods in terms of lung tumor properties , mediastinal lymph node metastasis , and pulmonary hilar lymph node metastasis. Results The diagnoses by preoperative PET-CT was consistent in differentiation of non-malignancy and malignancy of pathologic lung tumors by 87.3%, at a medium level (κ = 0.401, P < 0.001). McNemar test showed P = 0.508, indicating the two diagnostic methods were insignificantly different in the diagnosis of pulmonary tumors. The preoperative PET-CT was consistent in the diagnosis of the metastasis of pathologic mediastinal lymph node by 85.9%, at a medium level (κ = 0.697, P < 0.001). McNemar test showed P =0.754, indicating no significant difference between the diagnostic methods. The preoperative PET-CT was consistent with postoperative pathological examinations in the differentiations of the metastasis of pulmonary and hilar lymph node by 77.4%, at a medium level (κ=0.523, P < 0.001). McNemar test showed P = 0.454, indicating the two diagnostic methods were no significantly different. Conclusion Preoperative PET-CT and histopathologic examinations may be consistent in lung tumor diagnosis , which provides a basis for a certain significance in the surgical options.