الفهرس 
Anatomy of the LungsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Lung cancer is the most common amongst all kinds of cancers. It still constitutes the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, even with major advancements in prevention and treatments available. More than 85% of the cases are of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while less than 15% are of small cell lung cancers (SCLCs).
Patients and methods: A prospective study of 20 patients confirmed histopathologically to have bronchogenic carcinoma, came for assessment of therapeutic response. All patients underwent Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) before and after therapy. Semiquantitative assessment was used to determine maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Treatment response evaluation was assessed according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria.
Results: Comparison of the pre- and post-treatment SUVmax in the responder and non-responder groups revealed that the post-treatment SUV was significantly lower than the baseline SUV in the responder group (P = 0.008). The responder post-treatment SUV and ∆ SUV were significantly lower than the non-responder values (P=0.014 and 0.0004 respectively). The optimum threshold values of post-treatment SUV and ∆ SUV threshold defined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were ≤8 and ≤-48.3 respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and AUC of post-treatment SUV for predicting tumor response were 100%, 66.67%, 66.7%, 100% and 0.833 respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and AUC of ∆ SUV for predicting tumor response were 100%, 91.67%, 88.9%, 100%, 0.979% respectively.
Conclusion: PET/CT proved itself as useful, efficient and reliable tool in follow up of lung cancer patients as it gives an early and accurate metabolic response assessment before any CT changes, leading to early modification of therapy or confirmation of its efficiency.