title: Utility of SPECT/CT for periparotid sentinel lymph node mapping in the surgical management of head and neck melanoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is instrumental in staging and treatment of cutaneous melanoma. SPECT/CT, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) integrated with computed tomography (CT), increases the accuracy of SLN mapping to improve surgical planning. SPECT/CT can correct for signal scatter to prevent masking, which is especially common in the head and neck. For periparotid lymph nodes SPECT/CT may improve localization of SLNs compared to lymphoscintigraphy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital charts were reviewed for 14 patients with melanoma and suspected lymphatic drainage to the parotid region who received lymphoscintigraphy followed by SPECT/CT prior to surgical excision and SLN.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, SPECT/CT provided data, which changed management in 57% of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fifty-seven percent of our patients benefited from use of SPECT/CT. The distinction between level II and parotid sentinel lymph nodes was clearly identified through SPECT/CT images. We believe that patients with melanoma draining to the parotid region would benefit from SPECT/CT SLN mapping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. Electronic address: chad.zender@uhhospitals.org.
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zender
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Faulhaber
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rezaee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed