title: [Positron emission tomography (PET) with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in the diagnosis and preoperative staging of head and neck tumors: a prospective study].
abstract: To evaluate the effectiveness of PET with FDG in the preoperative identification of loco-regional lymph node metastases in patients with head and neck tumors a total of 24 consecutive patients coming to the E.N.T. Center were studied. In all cases staging was made using CT and/or MRI and by PET with FDG. All patients then underwent surgery performed by one single team and the histopathological findings were evaluated every time by the same pathologists. The sensitivity (87.5% vs. 53.1%), specificity (99% vs. 87.8%) and diagnostic precision (98.2% vs. 85.3) achieved by PET with FDG proved significantly better than the radiological imaging methods. In particular, given that in the present study PET showed a negative predictive value of 99%, when planning a functional lymphadenectomy this technique can be suggested as a preoperative guide in mapping out lymph node metastases.
authors.affiliation: Unità Operativa di Otorinolaringojatria, Ospedale di Castelfranco Veneto, TV, Italia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mattei
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rubello
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferlin
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bagatella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
vernacular_title: Ruolo diagnostico della tomografia ad emissione di positroni (PET) con 18-fluorodesossiglucosio (FDG) nella stadiazione preoperatoria dei tumori del capo-collo: studio prospettico.