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A comparative diagnostic study of head and neck nodal metastases using positron emission tomography
Author(s) -
McGuirt W. Frederick,
Williams Daniel W.,
Keyes John W.,
Greven Kathryn M.,
Watson Nat E.,
Geisinger Kim R.,
Cappellari James O.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-199504000-00006
Subject(s) - medicine , positron emission tomography , cervical lymph nodes , radiology , nuclear medicine , tomography , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , head and neck , positron emission tomography computed tomography , positron emission , head and neck cancer , metastasis , radiation therapy , cancer , surgery
A prospective study was conducted to compare the accuracy of clinical examination, computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) in identifying head and neck squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to cervical lymph nodes. The findings in the necks of 49 patients evaluated by clinical examination and CT were compared to the findings in the same necks by PET, a newly available metabolic imaging modality. Pathology specimens were available for 45 of the necks. The findings of PET and CT correlated in 84% of cases. In the cases that did not correlate, CT proved correct in four of five cases. PET (82%) and CT (84%) were comparable and were both better than clinical examination (71%) in correctly identifying the presence or absence of metastatic disease.