The Association between the Body Mass Index, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and SUV of the Non-Tumorous Lung in the Pretreatment [(18)F]FDG-PET/CT of Patients with Lung Cancer

Background: A debate persists on the prognostic value of the pre-therapeutic standardized uptake value (SUV) of non-tumorous lung tissue for the risk assessment of therapy-related pneumonitis, with most studies lacking significant correlation. However, the influence of patient comorbidities on the pre-therapeutic lung SUV has not yet been systematically evaluated. Thus, we aimed to elucidate the association between comorbidities, biological variables and lung SUVs in pre-therapeutic [(18)F]FDG-PET/CT. Methods: In this retrospective study, the pre-therapeutic SUV in [(18)F]FDG-PET/CT was measured in non-tumorous areas of both lobes of the lung. SUV(MEAN), SUV(MAX) and SUV(95) were compared to a multitude of patient characteristics and comorbidities with Spearman's correlation analysis, followed by a Bonferroni correction and multilinear regression. Results: In total, 240 patients with lung cancer were analyzed. An elevated BMI was significantly associated with increased SUV(MAX) (

• Wehlte, L.
• Walter, J.
• Daisenberger, L.
• Kuhnle, F.
• Ingenerf, M.
• Schmid-Tannwald, C.
• Brendel, M.
• Kauffmann-Guerrero, D.
• Heinzerling, L.
• Tufman, A.
• Pfluger, T.
• Völter, F.