Interpretation von Ultraschallbefunden in der HNO-Heilkunde

Abstract

A major advantage of head and neck sonography over other imaging methods is that the attending physician performs the examination himself/herself and can directly compare the imaging findings with other clinical and endoscopic findings. Given the "big picture," the physician is thus able to interpret the sonographic findings correctly. The first part of this article gives an exemplary overview of lesions of the skin, neck, and lymph nodes as well as the ensuing oncologic follow-up with ultrasound. In the second part the focus lies on salivary glands, paragangliomas, the esophagus, and vascular pathologies.

EUS of the neck: A comprehensive anatomical reference for the staging of head and neck cancer (with videos)

“…[23] A major advantage of US, apart from being highly sensitive and nonionizing, is that the attending physician gets the “big picture,” when he performs the examination himself. [4] Each malignancy of head and neck has its unique first echelon and pattern of spread to different nodal stations. [5] Although nowadays positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT) is playing an increasingly important role in the detection of pathologic lymph nodes (LNs); a cytopathological confirmation is possible only by CT- or US-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA).…”

Imaging of spaces of neck and mediastinum by endoscopic ultrasound

“…[ 6 ] Proper staging of diseased lymph nodes at different stations is possible by computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and PET-CT.[ 4 7 ] Ultrasonography (US) also assumes importance in the routine diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of diseases of the head, neck, and chest. [ 8 9 10 11 ] Imaging of hollow organs by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has improved accuracy in the assessment of local lymph node metastases in malignancies of the neck, esophagus, and lung when compared with CT.[ 12 13 14 ] Currently, EUS is increasingly used in the evaluation of metastatic disease, posttreatment assessment, and the detection of recurrent disease, and it offers a distinct advantage in EUS-FNAC of lymph nodes or masses that are not accessible to CT.[ 15 16 17 ]…”