title: Post-treatment appearances, pitfalls, and patterns of failure in head and neck cancer on FDG PET/CT imaging.
abstract: Majority of patients with head and neck cancer are treated with combined treatment regimes such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. The loss of structural symmetry and imaging landmarks as a result of therapy makes post-treatment imaging a daunting task on conventional modalities like computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as on 18 Fluorine-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (18F FDG PET/CT). Combined multimodality treatment approach causes various tissue changes that give rise to a spectrum of findings on FDG PET/CT imaging, which are depicted in this atlas along with a few commonly encountered imaging pitfalls. The incremental value of FDG PET/CT in detecting locoregional recurrences in the neck as well as distant failures has also been demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Nilendu C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Purandare
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Ameya D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Puranik
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Sneha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Archi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Venkatesh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rangarajan
keywords: Computed tomography; FDG PET flap; head and neck; infection; inflammation; radiation therapy