title: Detection of neck recurrence in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer: comparison of ultrasound, contrast-enhanced CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT using surgical pathology as a reference standard: (ultrasound vs. CT vs.           (18)F-FDG PET/CT in recurrent thyroid cancer).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the diagnostic performance of ultrasound, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and (18)F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET)/CT for detecting recurrent differentiated thyroid cancer in the neck.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty patients who had undergone previous surgery for differentiated thyroid cancer (19 papillary carcinomas; 1 medullary carcinoma) and presented with pathologically proven recurrence in the neck were included. All patients had undergone ultrasound, CT and PET/CT in the 2 months before further surgery. In each patient, ultrasound, CT and PET/CT images were retrospectively reviewed to determine the presence of loco-regional recurrence by level-by-level analysis. Imaging results were correlated with the histological evaluation of the neck dissection as a standard of reference.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recurrences were found at 52 out of 110 cervical nodal levels surgically explored. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 69.2 %, 89.7 % and 80.0 % for ultrasound; 63.5 %, 94.8 % and 80.0 % for CT; and 53.8 %, 79.3 % and 67.3 % for PET/CT, respectively. ROC analysis revealed higher diagnostic performance with ultrasound than with PET/CT for detecting recurrent tumour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although no significant difference was found among the three techniques, the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound and CT were higher than those of PET/CT for the evaluation of cervical recurrence in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • Ultrasound, CT and                            (                               18                            )                            F-FDG PET/CT can all detect recurrent thyroid cancer.                         • Ultrasound and CT have higher sensitivity and specificity.                         • Ultrasound, CT and                            (                               18                            )                            F-FDG PET/CT frequently demonstrated discordant findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kangdong Seong-Sim Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, 445 Gil-dong, Kangdong-gu, Seoul, 134-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Dae Young
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Sora
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: You Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Young-Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Rho
authors.forename: Eun-Jae
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Sung Hye
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Koh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18