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The Feasibility of ¹⁸F-FDG PET Scans 1 Month After Completing Radiotherapy of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea; ² Department of Radiation Oncology, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea; and ³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: For correspondence or reprints contact: Sang-wook Lee, MD, PhD, Department of Radiation Oncology, Asan Medical Center, 388-1, Poongnap-dong, Songpa-ku, Seoul, 138-736, Korea. E-mail: lsw{at}amc.seoul.kr

Our purpose was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy of PET with ¹⁸F-FDG 1 mo after the completion of radiotherapy in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Methods: Ninety-seven patients underwent ¹⁸F-FDG PET scans before and after radiotherapy for nondisseminated SCCHN. The first scans were obtained no more than 4 wk before the start of radiotherapy, and follow-up scans were obtained 1 mo after the completion of radiotherapy. ¹⁸F-FDG PET images were analyzed using standardized uptake values (SUVs). All patients were followed for at least 6 mo or until death. Results: The median SUVs of preradiotherapy primary sites and nodes were 6.5 (range, 2.3–23.0) and 5.6 (range, 1.2–16.8), respectively. The median SUVs of postradiotherapy primary sites and nodes were 1.8 (range, basal status value to 9.7) and 1.8 (range, basal status value to 8.6), respectively. Evaluation of the postradiotherapy status of tumors in these SCCHN patients showed the sensitivity of ¹⁸F-FDG PET to be 88%, the specificity to be 95%, and the overall diagnostic accuracy to be 94.9%. Conclusion: Our results indicate that ¹⁸F-FDG PET might be a valuable imaging method for evaluating the response to radiotherapy in patients with SCCHN. One month after the completion of radiotherapy is not too early for follow-up ¹⁸F-FDG PET to be performed to evaluate the response to radiotherapy.

Key Words: ¹⁸F-FDG PET • radiotherapy • head and neck cancer • standardized uptake value • squamous cell carcinoma

COPYRIGHT © 2007 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc.

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