title: [Clinical value of PET in identifying cervical nodal metastases of tongue cancer: a comparison with CT/MRI and clinical palpation in 38 cases].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital/Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China. zhulijun114@126.com
authors.forename: Li-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Zhong-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qing-Yi
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Qi-Peng
authors.initials: QP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Wei-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Han-Geng
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Xiu-Lin
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: 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*