Prediction of macrometastasis in axillary lymph nodes of patients with invasive breast cancer and the utility of the SUV lymph node/tumor ratio using FDG-PET/CT

Table 3 Comparison of axillary lymph node evaluation results according to the metastases size (mean ± SD)

	Macrometastasis	Micrometastasis	Negative (+ITC)	Micrometastasis + Negative
	(n = 55)	(n = 14)	(n = 102)	(n = 116)
Age (years)	56.6 ± 13.1	58.1 ± 17.6	61.7 ± 14.4	60.9 ± 14.5
Tumor size (mm)	24.5 ± 13.6^a	20.9 ± 7.2	18.7 ± 10.4	19.0 ± 10.1
SUV-LN	2.63 ± 2.607^b	0.935 ± 0.314	0.841 ± 0.288	0.856 ± 0.293
SUV-T	6.298 ± 4.122^c	5.487 ± 2.223	3.954 ± 3.524	4.125 ± 3.427
NT ratio	0.571 ± 0.776^d	0.227 ± 0.104	0.316 ± 0.209	0.306 ± 0.205

PET/CT parameters were compared between the four groups as follows: macrometastasis (Mac: n = 55), micrometastasis (Mic: n = 14), negative (Neg: n = 102), and micrometastasis and negative (Mic + Neg: n = 116). ^avs. the Neg group (P <0.01); ^bvs. the Mic + Neg groups (P <0.01); ^cvs. the Neg group (P <0.01) or the Mic + Neg group (P <0.01); ^dvs. the Mic group (P <0.01), Neg group (P = 0.021), or the Mic + Neg groups (P = 0.0155).

ISSN: 1477-7819