PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Eric Laffon AU - Henri de Clermont AU - Frederic Lamare AU - Roger Marthan TI - Variability of Total Lesion Glycolysis by <sup>18</sup>F-FDG–Positive Tissue Thresholding in Lung Cancer AID - 10.2967/jnmt.113.122952 DP - 2013 Sep 01 TA - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology PG - 186--191 VI - 41 IP - 3 4099 - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/41/3/186.short 4100 - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/41/3/186.full SO - J. Nucl. Med. Technol.2013 Sep 01; 41 AB - The aim of this work was to assess the variability of total lesion glycolysis (TLG) measurements in lung cancer patients, obtained with fixed percentages of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) thresholds. Methods: Thirteen lesions (10 patients) were analyzed in 10 successive 2.5-min frames of an 18F-FDG PET dynamic acquisition obtained between 60 and 110 min after injection. 18F-FDG–positive lesion volume, associated average SUV (SUVmean), and TLG (volume × SUVmean) were assessed in each frame using thresholds of 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80%. For each threshold, the average relative SD of TLG, leading to relative measurement error and repeatability, was calculated over the lesion series. The dependence of TLG variability on volume and SUVmean variability was also assessed. Results: The average relative SD of TLG correlated strongly with threshold: 1.0866 × exp(0.0472 × threshold) (r = 0.999; P &lt; 0.01). For the 40% threshold, average TLG over the series was 225.9 g (range, 41.7–1,086.3), relative measurement error and repeatability were 14.5%–20.4% (95% confidence interval), and no significant difference was found between TLG and volume variability. For the other thresholds, TLG variability was significantly lower or greater than volume or SUVmean variability, respectively. Conclusion: In current clinical practice, a formula allows quick estimation of TLG variability for any percentage of the SUVmax threshold: the higher the threshold the greater the TLG variability.