Tumor segmentation and analysis
PRIMARY TUMOR, ENLARGEMENT
All included patients with a blood glucose levels < 8.7 mmol/L fasted for at least 6 h before the [The target lesions in this study were hypermetabolic single primary tumor and mediastinal–hilar LNs. The volume of interest (VOI) of each primary tumor was segmented by two separated experienced nuclear medicine physicians on the PET images using the gradient-based semi-automatic contouring algorithm, named “PET_Edge”, on the Medical Image Merge software (MIM, version 6.5.4, The highest SUVmax of LNs was also recorded for each patient, simultaneously, the size of the LN with the highest SUVmax was measured with the nodal enlargement criterion of greater than 1.0 cm in short axis diameter on a transverse CT image of the fused PET/CT [