Objective: To identify patterns of abnormal lymphatic uptake from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by staging FDG PET. Methods: 573 NSCLC patients were analyzed. NSCLC sites were divided into right upper (RU) and lower (RL), left upper (LU) and lower (LL) zones. The lymph nodes were grouped into right pre-tracheal triangle (PT), left aorto-pulmonary window (AP), right (RH) and left (LH) hilum and subcarina (SC). Results: The frequencies of NSCLC from various lung zones to show abnormal lymphatic uptake in various lymph node regions were as below: (1) RU:19%, double that from other 3 zones (about 10%) in PT; (2) LU:17%, followed by LL:14% but rarely from right side (<10%) in AP; (3) RU: 29% and RL: 32% but infrequently from left side (<20%) in RH; (4) LL: 29%, compared to about 10% from other 3 zones in LH; and (5) Lower lung zones: about 20% while upper lung zones: <10% in SC. All 4 zones showed <5% in the bilateral hilar uptake. The frequency of crossover from left side (38%) was greater than that from right side (30%) (p=0.015), with upper lung zones (26%) less frequent than that of lower lung zones (45%) (p<0.0001). The probabilities of NSCLC contributing to the abnormal uptake for a given lymph node region are: (1) PT: 52% from RU; (2) AP: 42% from LU; (3) LH: 36% from LL and 26% from LU; and (4) RH: 31% from RL and 44% from RU. Conclusions: Specific lymphatic uptake patterns are identified for NSCLC from different lung zones, which may assist in accurate staging of lung cancer by PET or CT-PET.