F-FDG PET/CT and histology for diagnosing recurrent/remnant tumors in head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of fluorine-18-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for locoregional recurrent/residual tumor in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) who underwent previous radiotherapy (RT).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

F-FDG PET/CT images from patients with HNC who previously underwent RT were retrospectively reviewed. Only cases with histological confirmation within 4 weeks of PET/CT imaging were included. Standardized uptake values were obtained for lesions and PET/CT findings were compared with histological results.

RESULTS

Of 181 cases, 114 (63%) were histologically confirmed as malignant and 67 (37%) as benign. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET/CT were 93%, 64%, and 82%, respectively. Inflammation was the most common cause of false positives and small tumor volume and low F-FDG avidity were the causes of false negatives. PET/CT had 100% sensitivity and 56% specificity for detecting recurrent or residual disease within 12 weeks after RT and 93% sensitivity and 64% specificity, more than 12 weeks after RT. The frequency of false positives in PET/CT images within 12 weeks of RT was similar to the results obtained 12 weeks after RT (15% vs. 14%). False positives were more frequent in PET/CT cases after two-dimensional or three-dimensional conformal RT than in those after intensity-modulated RT, although not statistically significant (15% vs. 9%, p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

F-FDG PET/CT might aid the diagnosis of locoregional residual/recurrent tumors in patients with HNC previously treated with RT. Inflammation was the main cause of false positives regardless of the interval between RT and PET/CT, even several years after RT. Therefore, histological verification of positive PET/CT findings should be conducted during follow-up of HNC patients treated with RT.