title: The use of combined PET/CT for localizing recurrent head and neck cancer: the Pittsburgh experience.
abstract: We performed a retrospective study of 47 patients to ascertain the ability of combined positron-emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) to localize recurrent head and neck cancer. When clinically warranted, biopsies were performed in an attempt to obtain pathologic confirmation of the PET/CT findings. Of the 47 patients, 33 exhibited PET/CT findings consistent with recurrent cancer. Of the 33 patients, 25 underwent either biopsy or surgical excision of disease in an attempt to obtain a pathologic confirmation. Biopsy analysis confirmed the PET/CT findings in 22 of these patients; in the remaining 3 patients, pathologic findings were inconsistent with the PET/CT diagnosis. Based on the subset of 25 patients who underwent pathologic testing, the sensitivity of combined PET/CT was 95% and the specificity was 60%. We conclude that combined PET/CT imaging is a valuable tool for localizing tumor recurrence in patients with head and neck cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA 15213-2546, USA. ZimmerL@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Lee A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Zimmer
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Snyderman
authors.forename: Melanie B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blodgett
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCook
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Townsend
authors.forename: Carolyn C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Meltzer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*