A new combined index of SUVmax of lymph node in PET/CT by a weighting coefficient plus its maximum minor axis in CECT to evaluate occult lymph node metastasis in clinical N0 patients with tongue cancer

To predict occult nodal metastasis in clinical N0 patients with tongue cancer, we developed combined index (CI): SUVmax of the largest lymph node in PET/CT by weighting coefficient plus its maximum minor axis (<10 mm) in contrast-enhanced CT (CECT). In this retrospective study, 57 clinical NO patients with tongue cancer, who underwent elective supraomohyoid neck dissection at cervical levels of I-III were enrolled. The cutoff value of SUVmax of 2.0 obtained using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis predicted the postoperative positive cervical levels containing metastatic lymph nodes from clinical N0 cervical levels in tongue cancer patients with a sensitivity of 54.5% and a specificity of 78.2%. The cutoff value of CI with weighting coefficient of 1.5 obtained using ROC analysis was 9.8 at the maximum area under the curve of 0.750. The cutoff value of 9.8 predicted the postoperative positive cervical levels containing metastatic lymph nodes from clinical NO cervical levels in tongue cancer patients with a sensitivity of 68.2% and a specificity of 81.5%. These findings suggest that CI of functional PET/CT and morphological CECT components might improve the diagnostic performance of occult nodal metastasis to select clinical N0 patients with tongue cancer preferable for elective neck dissection.