Divisi D, et al. - Physicians designed this study to assess maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) and pulmonary attenuation patterns at multislice computed tomography (MSCT) in patients with solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) according to morphological and pathological characteristics of the lesion. They suggested that nodule attenuation can anticipate the histology of the lesion whereas SUVmax might relate to the propensity to lymph node metastases.

Methods

• A retrospective study on one thousand, five hundred ninety-two SPN patients was carried out following approval by the Italian Registry of VATS Lobectomies. 

Results

• All patients experienced VATS lobectomy.
• It was observed in the findings that 98.1% had primary or second metachronous primary lung cancers on histologic examination.
• On histological examination, 10.7% presented occult lymph node metastases (pN1 or pN2).
• Nodule attenuation on CT was correlated with the histology of the lesion (p= 0.030); in particular, pure ground glass opacities (pGGOs) and partially solid nodules were related to adenocarcinomatous histotypes.
• According to the findings obtained, a significant relationship between SUVmax and age, nodule size, pathological node status (pN) was found (P=0.007, P=0.000 and P=0.002 respectively).