18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in different histological subtypes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
The study aimed to delineate the relationship between 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and histological findings in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective review of 88 patients referred to our positron emission tomography department with newly diagnosed, biopsy-proved nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Hospital records were reviewed for demographic and clinical data, including age, gender, body weight, histological analysis and clinical tumour stage.


RESULTS
Nineteen out of the 88 patients (22 per cent) had nasopharyngeal carcinoma of World Health Organization type I, 39 (44 per cent) had type II and 30 (34 per cent) had type III. The mean standardised uptake value for the primary tumour was 9.4 +/- 5.0, ranging from 2.2 to 27.1. The mean standardised uptake values were 8.0 +/- 3.9 for type I tumours, 9.7 +/- 4.4 for type II tumours and 10.1 +/- 6.3 for type III tumours (p = 0.451).


CONCLUSIONS
Our study found that type III nasopharyngeal carcinoma exhibited a higher 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake than either type II or type I nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, this difference was not statistically significant.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, Taiwan.
M-C
MC
Chang
S-C
SC
Tsai
W-Y
WY
Lin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014944:World Health Organization; D055815:Young Adult
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18