title: Integrated PET/CT system for staging and surveillance of skull base tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The utility of preoperative and postoperative whole body integrated positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanning for staging and follow-up in patients with skull base tumors is undetermined.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively evaluated PET-CT findings in 47 patients using 57 scans. Most (35/47, 75%) had anterior skull base tumors and the majority (74%) had advanced-stage (III-IV) disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The scans showed high sensitivity for detection of various types of malignant tumors and provided 39 items of additional information, changing the clinical staging and management of 11 patients (23%). Recurrence of primary tumors was detected in 8 patients, positive regional (neck) metastases in 3, and distant metastases in 3. The positive uptake was due to osteoradionecrosis in 2 other patients. The sensitivity of PET-CT was 0.77 and the specificity was 0.81 (0.83 positive predictive value and 0.76 negative predictive value).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PET-CT provides accurate data on anatomy, tumor staging, and early disease recurrence in the skull base.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ziv@baseofskull.org
authors.forename: Ziv
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Einat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Even-Sapir
authors.forename: Nevo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Margalit
authors.forename: Dan M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fliss
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed