Abstract: Objective To explore the impact of blood glucose levels on imaging quality of positron emission tomography/computed tomography （PET/CT） examination in patients with primary liver cancer （PLC）. Methods 187 patients with PLC were recruited in this study between January 2015 and January 2018,and 71 had normal blood glucose and 116 were hyperglycemic. All patients received PET/CT examination. SUVmean was measured in the right lobe of the liver. The liver image quality and fluorodeoxyglucose F¹⁸（¹⁸F-FDG） uptake were compared between the two groups,and the correlation of each variable to liver SUVmean was analyzed. Results The grade 0,1,2 and 3 of liver image quality by PET/CT scan in patients with normal blood glucose levels 7.0%,19.7%,29.5% and 43.8%,significantly superior to 17.2%,26.7%,25.8% and 30.3% in patients with elevated blood glucose levels （P<0.05）;the ¹⁸F-FDG uptake in patients with hyperglycemia was significantly higher than in patients with normal blood glucose [（5.1±1.4） vs.（3.9±1.3）,P<0.05];Correlation and partial correlation coefficients between blood glucose,age,free thyroxine 3（FT3） and liver BMR,and SUVmean were statistically significant（P<0.05） and further multivariate stepwise linear regression analysis showed that blood glucose,age and FT3 were the independent factors affecting liver SUVmean. Conclusion s Blood glucose levels and liver glucose metabolism might affect liver ¹⁸F-FDG uptake and the image quality of PET/CT scan in patientswith PLC,and the patients’ age and serum FT3 are independent factors affecting liver SUVmean. Clinicians should actively regulate the blood glucose levels to a reasonable range before PET/CT examination.

Key words: Hepatoma, Positron emission tomography/computed tomography, Fluorodeoxyglucose F¹⁸, Blood glucose, Affecting factors