Vol.99 No.4 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 99 No. 4 April 2006
Evaluation of FDG-PET in the Diagnosis
of Head and Neck Tumor
Yoko Takane, Kikuo Sakamoto, Yoshimi Miyajima, Hirohito Umeno
Tadashi Nakashima, Masatoshi Ishibashi and Naofumi Hayabuchi
(Kurume University School of Medicine)
We investigated the diagnostic value of FDG-PET for malignant head and neck tumor in 179 patients who received FDG-PET at our hospital in 2004. In the analyses, we compared diagnoses of the primary lesion, nodal and distant metastases obtained from FDG-PET with those from echogram, CT, MRI and scintigram.. The sensitivity, specificity, and and accuracy were 94％ (92/98), 86％ (70/81), and 91％ (162/179), respectively. The present analyses indicate that FDG-PET diagnoses of the primary tumor, nodal and distant metastases can be accurately achieved in head and neck tumors. Furthermore, as FDG-PET conducts systemic tomographing, it is useful not only for the diagnosis of distant metastasis but also for the reccurence cancer. However, careful attention should be paid to false positive findings on FDG-PET by such as reactive lymph nodes or inflammation after radiotherapy. In order to acquire better diagnostic results, combined examination by FDG-PET, CT and MRI are highly recommended.
Key words : FDG-PET, head and neck tumor, nodal metastases and distant metastases