AIM: This study aimed to analyze the clinicopathologic and metabolic parameters derived from staging MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study included stage I-III NSCLC patients with a baseline RESULTS: Out of 173 patients, 104 experienced recurrences, with 66% presenting distant involvement and 56.7% exhibiting polymetastatic disease at initial recurrence. Patient age, pathologic lymphovascular invasion, and normalized SUVmax perimeter distance (nSPD) were considered as risk factors for early recurrence. Adenocarcinoma histology was identified as an independent variable for distant recurrence. Patient age, number of metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes at staging (nN), sphericity, normalized SUVpeak to centroid distance (nSCD), entropy, low gray-level run emphasis, and high gray-level run emphasis were independent variables for polymetastatic disease. Certain variables were correlated with organ-specific recurrence. Bone recurrence was related to nN and SUVmean. Brain recurrence was related to adenocarcinoma histology. Lung recurrence was associated with coefficient of variation and nSPD. CONCLUSION: The metabolic profile of lung primary tumors obtained from