[Clinical value of PET in identifying cervical nodal metastases of tongue cancer: a comparison with CT/MRI and clinical palpation in 38 cases].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of PET in the identification of cervical nodal metastases of tongue cancer in comparison with CT/MRI and clinical palpation.


METHODS
Thirty-eight patients with tongue cancer underwent PET and CT/MRI within 2 weeks before surgery. The results of PET, CT/MRI, and clinical palpation were interpreted separately to assess the regional lymph node status, using histopathological analysis as the golden standard. The differences in the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy among the imaging modalities and clinical palpation were analyzed.


RESULTS
The sensitivity of PET for nodal metastasis identification was 11.1% higher than that of CT/MRI (83.3% vs 72.2%, P=0.423) and 16.6% higher than that of clinical palpation (83.3% vs 66.7%, P=0.248). The specificity of PET was 5% higher than that of CT/MRI (80% vs 75%, P=0.703) and 15% higher than that of clinical palpation (80% vs 65%, P=0.288). The accuracy of PET, CT/MRI, and clinical palpation in identifying cervical nodal metastases was 81.6%, 73.7% and 65.8%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of PET for detecting cervical nodal metastases are greater than those of CT/MRI and clinical palpation. Although the results failed to show statistically significant differences, we still recommend that PET be used as a supplementary modality for identifying nodal metastases of tongue cancer.
Zhu
Li-Jun
LJ
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital/Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China. zhulijun114@126.com
Chen
Zhong-Wei
ZW
Hou
Qing-Yi
QY
Wang
Qi-Peng
QP
Jiang
Sui
S
Feng
Hang
H
Zheng
Wei-Ping
WP
Xiao
Han-Geng
HG
Chang
Xiu-Lin
XL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*