Lymph Node Maximum Uptake of 18F-ALF-NOTA-PRGD2 II PET/CT Predicts Lung Cancer Survival

Background:Tumor angiogenesis plays a key role in tumor growth, development, and metastasis, so the exploratory study of tumor neovascularization imaging is one of the potential methods to predict survival. This study aims to examine the predictive capacity of 18F-ALF-NOTA-PRGD2 II (denoted 18F-Alfatide II) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) before antitumor therapy (ATR) in patients with lung cancer.Results The median follow-up was 31 (1.3~57.0) months. Among the patients, 6 were lost to follow-up. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 40.0 (3.50~57.0) months and 21.30 (2.0~56.0) months, respectively. The maximum uptake values (SUVmax) of the metastatic lymph nodes (SUVLN) and tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging were significant predictors of PFS and OS (all PLN and 0.96 for the TNM stage (PLN and TNM stage cutoff values were 2.50 and II, and their sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative prediction were 77.42%, 80.0% and 82.76% and 74.07%; and 87.10%, 60.0% and 72.97% and 78.95%, respectively. Patients with a lower SUVLN and early stage had a longer PFS and OS (all PConclusions For lung cancer, low SUVLN and an early TNM stage (≤stage II) as assessed before ATR by 18F-alfatide II PET/CT represents a favorable subgroup with increased PFS and OS.