Comparison of whole body positron emission tomography (PET)/PET‐computed tomography and conventional anatomic imaging for detecting distant malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer: A meta‐analysis

Abstract

Compared with conventional anatomic imaging, whole body PET/PET-CT has excellent diagnostic performance for detecting distant malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer.

Oropharyngeal Cancer

“…Determining the presence or absence of extracapsular invasion is of importance; therefore, thin slice CT or MRI assists in an accurate evaluation. 18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission topography (PET) exhibits high accuracy for tumor involvement [ 29 ] and can be used to screen for distant metastasis [ 30 ]. FDG-PET scans may be recommended especially in the case of advanced disease.…”

Salvage surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

“…the most important diagnostic procedure and standard to screen for distant metastases in HNSCC is a Ct scan of the thorax to evaluate for pulmonal and mediastinal lesions [19]. Some authors suggest the use of positron emission tomography to increase sensitivity in screening for distant metastasis [19][20][21]. However, this technique has not become a routine practice in many centers yet, as clear data on its predominance over conventional methods are pending and its use is cost-intensive and access often limited.…”

Meta-analysis of18fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-CT for diagnosis of lung malignancies in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

“…Chest CT is regarded as the single most important technique for diagnosis of distant malignancies in patients with HNSCC . In the past 10 years, 18 F‐fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) has played an important role in oncology, especially for evaluating distant metastases in patients with HNSCC . From a meta‐analysis from 4 directly compared studies (377 patients), 18 FDG PET showed higher sensitivity (85% vs 62%) than chest CT .…”