title: Pathologic assessment of computerized tomography accuracy for the evaluation of the laryngeal cartilaginous framework in laryngopharyngeal carcinomas.
abstract: Sixty-six whole-organ sectioned laryngopharyngectomy specimens removed for cancer during a seven-year period were uniformly examined to determine the accuracy of preoperative high resolution computerized tomography (CT) for detection of cartilaginous involvement. Our results indicate that CT has a high overall specificity (88.2%) but a low sensitivity (47.1%); we observed a high false-negative rate (26.5%) and a fairly low false-positive rate (5.9%). Massive cartilage destruction was easily assessed by CT, whereas both small macroscopic and microscopic neoplastic foci of cartilaginous invasion were missed on CT scans. Moreover, false-positive cases were mainly due to proximity of the tumor to the cartilage. Clinical implications of these results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sulfaro
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Querin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barzan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lutman
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Comoretto
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carbone
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D007817:Laryngeal Cartilages / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed