title: Advances in imaging in the work-up of head and neck cancer patients.
abstract: Accurate staging at the time of the diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is critical for selection of the appropriate treatment strategy. Therefore, optimizing pre-treatment imaging in the diagnostic work-up is of great importance. CT and MRI are the corner stones of diagnostic work-up. Technical improvements will increase the value of these techniques even further. PET and PET-CT became a standard imaging techniques for HNSCC patients. It may be helpful for the detection of occult primary tumours, but its sensitivity for the detection of occult lymph node metastases is too low. Alternatively, the sentinel node procedure may be sufficiently accurate to avoid elective treatment of the neck. Screening for distant metastases should be performed only in HNSCC patients with high risk factors by FDG-PET-CT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.bree@vumc.nl
authors.forename: Remco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Bree
authors.forename: Jonas A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castelijns
authors.forename: Otto S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: C René
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Leemans
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18