The correlation of SUVmax with pathological characteristics of primary tumor and the value of Tumor/ Lymph node SUVmax ratio for predicting metastasis to lymph nodes in resected NSCLC patients

We aimed to investigate the correlation of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) with pathological characteristics of primary tumor and to determine a Tumor/ Lymph node (T/LN) SUVmax ratio predicting metastasis to lymph nodes in NSCLC patients. Eighty-one NSCLC patients who had PET/CT examination at initial staging and subsequently underwent surgical resection were retrospectively evaluated. There were 100 PET/CT positive mediastinal or...