To evaluate the effect of pre-scan blood glucose levels (BGL) on standardized uptake value (SUV) in ¹⁸F-FDG-PET scan.

A literature review was performed in the MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane library databases. Multivariate regression analysis was performed on individual datum to investigate the correlation of BGL with SUV_max and SUV_mean adjusting for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus diagnosis, ¹⁸F-FDG injected dose, and time interval. The ANOVA test was done to evaluate differences in SUV_max or SUV_mean among five different BGL groups (< 110, 110–125, 125–150, 150–200, and > 200 mg/dl).

Individual data for a total of 20,807 SUV_max and SUV_mean measurements from 29 studies with 8380 patients was included in the analysis. Increased BGL is significantly correlated with decreased SUV_max and SUV_mean in brain (p < 0.001, p < 0.001,) and muscle (p < 0.001, p < 0.001) and increased SUV_max and SUV_mean in liver (p = 0.001, p = 0004) and blood pool (p = 0.008, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was found between BGL and SUV_max or SUV_mean in tumors. In the ANOVA test, all hyperglycemic groups had significantly lower SUVs compared with the euglycemic group in brain and muscle, and significantly higher SUVs in liver and blood pool. However, in tumors only the hyperglycemic group with BGL of > 200 mg/dl had significantly lower SUV_max.

If BGL is lower than 200 mg/dl no interventions are needed for lowering BGL, unless the liver is the organ of interest. Future studies are needed to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of FDG-PET scan in diagnosis of malignant lesions in hyperglycemia.