Types of SUV Calculations

Unfortunately, there is no overall consensus in the methodology for calculating the SUV.

The most widely used SUV formula utilizes “Body Weight”.

For those who prefer to minimize the effect that increased body fat has on the SUV, many radiologists prefer a “Lean Body Mass” formula.  Others still utilize “Ideal Body Weight” or “Body Surface Area” calculations.  [Fig. 1]

To further complicate matters, while most readers report a SUV maximum, some prefer an SUV mean (some even report a SUV minimum).

We advocate using “Lean Body Mass” and SUV “maximum” values when measuring lesions (when comparing lesion activity to liver or blood pool uptake, the liver and pool uptake are measured as SUV “mean”).

Perhaps most importantly:

• Be consistent with whichever methodology of SUV calculation you utilize.
• Clearly document your methodology in the report (so the next reader at another facility can properly interpret the results on a follow up exam). [Fig. 2]

AVERAGE SUV’s (MEAN)

Lean Body Mass calculations yields lower SUV’s than Body Weight assessment.