[Is 18F-PET-CT the First Choice for Preoperative Screening 
for Ia Non-small Cell Lung Cancer?]

The preferred therapy for patients with pulmonary nodules which highly suspected as lung cancer by low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) is surgery, but the best screening method of whole body is not clear yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the differences in the progression-free survival (PFS) of patients with Ia stage non-small cell lung cancer after screening of positron emission computed tomography (PET)-CT and conventional imaging (B-ultrasound/CT/MRI/ECT, BCME).

A total of 300 cases of Ia stage non-small cell lung cancer were collected, of which 170 cases were performed PET-CT and 130 cases were performed BCME before operation. The basic characteristics of the two groups were analyzed by propensity score matching (PSM), and 114 cases of each group were included in the study. The survival analysis was carried out by the Kaplan-Meier survival curve and the Cox regression analysis.

There was no significant difference between each group analyzed by PSM. The PFS of PET-CT and BCME were (44.9±27.2) months and (44.1±33.1) months (χ2=1.284, P=0.257). Both of the method ssucceed in screening. It is not the PFS influence factors. The false positive of PET-CT and BCME were 10 cases and 8 cases (χ2=0.241, P=0.623).

Both PET-CT and BCME can be used as a screening method for Ia stage non-small cell lung cancer according to individualized choice of patients.