PET helps rule out head and neck tumors

Recurrent head and neck tumors can be detected or ruled out using FDG-PET, according to researchers in the U.S. and China. The team from the University of Michigan and Hong Kong's North District Hospital evaluated 44 patients with FDG-PET to detect suspected or recurrent nonsquamous carcinomas.

Findings were classified according to their location, as primary lesions or nodal or distant metastases, as well as by histologic type, as thyroid, salivary gland, and miscellaneous tumors.

The researchers found that, while the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET varied depending on the type and area evaluated, it showed an overall diagnostic accuracy of 86%.

Negative PET results seem a reliable predictor that recurrence is unlikely, limiting the need for further imaging studies, said coauthor Dr. Suresh K. Mukherji, chief of neuro, head, and neck radiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The study appears in the September issue of Investigative Radiology.

Although more studies need to be conducted to assess PET in this population, Mukherji said that the new PET/CT combined scanners might add better diagnostic capabilities, furthering the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET.

For more information from the Diagnostic Imaging archives:

? PET/CT works better than PET alone in head and neck cancers
http://www.dimag.com/db_area/onlinenews/2003/2003052801.shtml

? Head and neck imaging evolves as subspecialty
http://www.dimag.com/db_area/archives/europe/2003/0304.headandneck.die.shtml

? FDG-PET complements structural imaging in head and neck tumors
http://www.dimag.com/db_area/onlinenews/2003/2003032401.shtml