The role of PET-CT in evaluation of recurrence and metastasis of head-and-neck tumor after definitive treatment

• Published in: Lin chuang er bi yan hou ke za zhi Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 18
• Main Authors: Qiu, Shujun, Sun, Haihui, Yang, Ming, Cong, Liang, Gao, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese
• Published: China 01-01-2008
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - diagnostic imaging; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Female; Head and Neck Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Lymphatic Metastasis; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods
• ISSN: 1001-1781

To explore the significance of 8F-FDG PET-CT in the diagnosis of the recurrence and metastasis of head-and-neck tumor after definitive treatment.
Forty-two patients having received definitive treatment for head-and-neck tumor of whom the tumor could not be identified clinically underwent 18F-FDG PET-CT examination. Follow-up data could be obtained for all foci identified on PET-CT images. PET-CT and CT accuracy was compared on the basis of follow-up and histopathologic findings.
A total of 103 foci were noted on PET-CT images. Identified by follow-up data, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 92.55%, 42.11% and 84.07% respectively for CT examination, and 100.00%, 52.63%, and 92.04% for PET-CT respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy of PET-CT were significantly higher than those of CT (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), whereas the difference in specificity between the results of these two groups was not significant (P > 0.05).
The major benefits of FDG PET were that it differentiates scar and relapse, as wel