Abstract: Objective To investigate the predictive effect of ¹⁸F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT) imaging features on progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with lymph node metastasis as the evaluation criterion. Methods A total of 100 patients with NSCLC admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College from May 2021 to May 2023 were retrospectively analyzed, including 40 patients without lymph node metastasis and 60 patients with lymph node metastasis. All patients received ¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT examination. The accuracy of ¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT staging and the differences of general data and imaging parameters between the two groups were analyzed. Results The staging accuracy of ¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT was 87.00%. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax), primary metabolic tumor volume (MTV-P), primary and metastatic metabolic tumor volume (MTV-C), total primary and metastatic glycolysis (TLG-P), and total primary and metastatic glycolysis (TLG-C) in lymph node metastasis group were higher than those in non-metastatic lymph node group. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Tumor size, SUVmax, MTV-P, MTV-C, TLG-P and TLG-C were positively correlated with the progression of NSCLC and were all risk factors for the progression of NSCLC. The area under the curve (AUC) of the combined prediction of NSCLC progression was 0.988. Conclusion ¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT plays an important role in the prediction of NSCLC progression, especially the combined prediction of SUV, MTV and TLG parameters is good.

Key words: ¹⁸F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography, imaging parameters, non-small cell lung cancer, predictive effectiveness