Multiple metabolic parameters and visual assessment of 18F-FDG uptake heterogeneity of PET/CT in advanced gastric cancer and primary gastric lymphoma

Advanced gastric cancer (AGC) and primary gastric lymphoma (PGL) are the two most common malignant tumors of the stomach. Conventional imaging examinations have difficulty distinguishing the two. This study explored the values of multiple parameters and visual assessment of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose(18F-FDG) uptake heterogeneity of positron emission tomography/computed tomography(PET/CT) for differentiating between AGC and PGL. This retrospective study included 70 AGC and 26 PGL patients, all of whom had undergone 18F-FDG PET/CT before treatment. We analyzed the differences between AGC and PGL in the distribution of metastatic lesions and multiple metabolic parameters, including the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), SUVmax/maximal thickness(THKmax), metabolic tumor volume and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). In addition, 18F-FDG uptake heterogeneity was visually assessed using a visual scoring method and a method of measuring SUVmax differences (SUVmax-d). The most common metastasis of AGC patients were liver, bone, peritoneal and proximal lymph nodes; PGL patients had fewer peritoneal metastases and lymph node metastasis could appeared to be “skip metastasis.” The metabolic parameters—SUVmax, SUVmax/THKmax and TLG—were higher in patients who had PGL, especially in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In the visual assessment of 18F-FDG uptake heterogeneity, the measurements of SUVmax-d in PGL were significantly higher than in AGC. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis suggested that SUVmax has the highest comprehensive diagnostic efficiency due to having the highest value of area under the curve and the highest accuracy (77.2%). 18F-FDG PET/CT had a high diagnostic efficiency for discrimination of AGC and PGL, especially between DLBCL and other pathological subtypes. Visual assessment used to evaluate 18F-FDG uptake heterogeneity could help to distinguish the two types of tumors. In addition, our innovative method of measuring the heterogeneity of 18F-FDG uptake—namely, SUVmax-d—could contribute to identification of the two tumor types and should have its significance clarified by future studies.