Integrated FDG-PET/CT does not make invasive staging of the intrathoracic lymph nodes in non-small cell lung cancer redundant: a prospective study

The accuracy of integrated FDG-PET/CT scanning is too low to replace invasive intrathoracic lymph node staging in patients with NSCLC. The visual interpretation of the fusion images of the integrated FDG-PET/CT scan can be replaced by the quantitative variable SUV(max)/SUV(liver) without loss of accuracy for intrathoracic lymph node staging.