Preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography predicts advanced lymph node metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Abstract

We aimed to study whether positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) findings are associated with lymph node staging, as outlined by the 7th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM staging system in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). A series of 76 ESCC patients undergoing esophagectomy were included in this study. The relation between PET/CT findings [maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax)] and pathologic lymph node status (N stage) was studied. The SUVmax of extra-tumor uptake, but not that of the main tumor, was significantly associated with the N classification. N2/N3 disease was observed in 61.1% of patients with an SUVmax for extra-tumor uptake of >4.9, whereas only 17.2% of patients with an SUVmax of extra-tumor uptake of <4.9 were classified as N2/N3 The number of PET abnormalities (NPAs) was also significantly associated with the N classification. Patients with three or more NPAs had a 65% chance of being classified as N2/N3, whereas patients with one or two NPAs had less than a 20% chance of being classified as N2/N3. The SUVmax of extra-tumor uptake and the NPAs were significantly associated with the N classification outlined by the 7th edition of the AJCC TNM staging system. PET/CT does help identify patients with advanced lymph node metastasis (N2/N3 stage) instead of simply indicating nodal involvement.