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Background: Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed carcinomas in China, and postoperative radiotherapy plays an important role in improving the prognosis of patients. Carcinomas in different locations of the oesophagus could have different patterns of lymph node metastasis after surgery., Methods: In this multicentric retrospective study, we enrolled patients with middle thoracic oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas from 3 cancer centres, and none of the patients underwent radiotherapy before or after surgery. We analysed the lymph node recurrence rates in different stations to explore the postoperative lymphatic recurrence pattern., Results: From January 1st, 2014, to December 31st, 2019, 132 patients met the criteria, and were included in this study. The lymphatic recurrence rate was 62.1%. Pathological stage (P = 0.032) and lymphadenectomy method (P = 0.006) were significant predictive factors of lymph node recurrence. The recurrence rates in the supraclavicular, upper and lower paratracheal stations of lymph nodes were 32.6%, 28.8% and 16.7%, respectively, showing a high incidence. The recurrence rate of the subcarinal node station was 9.8%, while 8.3% (upper, middle and lower) thoracic para-oesophageal nodes had recurrences., Conclusions: We recommend including the supraclavicular, upper and lower paratracheal stations of lymph nodes in the postoperative radiation field in middle thoracic oesophageal carcinomas. Subcarinal station is also potentially high-risk, while whether to include thoracic para-oesophageal or abdominal nodes needs careful consideration., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the value of (18)F-FDG uptake features in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary lesions., Methods: One hundred thirty-nine patients with solitary pulmonary lesions were divided into full uptake, circular uptake, multi-focus uptake, mild uptake, and no-uptake groups according to the uptake features of (18)F-FDG in solitary pulmonary lesions. The incidence of benign and malignant lesions and the false-positive and false-negative rates in each group were analyzed. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the method using (18)F-FDG uptake features combined with maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) (SUV method) in the differential diagnosis of solitary pulmonary lesions were evaluated., Results: There were 89 malignant and 50 benign lesions. (1) The malignant incidence of the full uptake group was 84.0% (63/75), and there were significant differences when compared with the other groups except the circular uptake group (16/23) (all P = 0.0001). The benign incidence of the multi-focus and no-uptake groups was 83.3% (10/12) and 82.4% (14/17), respectively, and there were significant differences when compared with the full uptake and the circular uptake groups, respectively (all P < 0.05). The benign incidence of the mild uptake group was 58.3% (7/12), and there were no significant differences when compared with the others except the full uptake group (all P > 0.05). No statistical significance was found between either two of the no-uptake, mild uptake, and multi-focus uptake groups (all P > 0.05). (2) In cases with SUVmax ≥2.5, the false-positive rate in the multi-focus uptake group was 83.3% (10/12), which was significantly higher than in the full uptake (12/75) or circular uptake group (7/23) (all P < 0.05). In cases with SUVmax <2.5, the false-negative rates in the mild and no-uptake groups were 41.7 and 17.6% (P = 0.218). (3) The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV, and NPV of the method using (18)F-FDG uptake features combined with SUVmax and the single SUV method were 88.7%/91.0%, 62.0%/42.0%, 79.1%/73.4%, 80.6%/73.6%, and 75.6%/72.4%, respectively., Conclusions: The method using uptake features of (18)F-FDG combined with SUVmax can improve the diagnostic specificity and accuracy of solitary pulmonary lesions. The multi-focus uptake feature maybe a benign sign, which still needs more researches to confirm.