Hj. Steinkamp et al., RANKING OF MR TOMOGRAPHY AND CT IN TUMOR STAGING OF CARCINOMA OF THE LARYNX HYPOPHARYNX, RoFo. Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Rontgenstrahlen und der neuenbildgebenden Verfahren, 158(5), 1993, pp. 437-444
43 patients with malignant tumours of the larynx or hypopharynx were e
xamined by MRT and CT to compare their accuracy for T-staging. There w
as histological confirmation in all cases. Histological studies showed
an accuracy in T-staging of 90% for MRT and 82% for CT. Differentiati
on between stages T2/T3 and T3/T4 is possible in most cases by either
method. A source of error is the difficulty of differentiating oedema
or inflammatory changes from tumour. This led to occasional overinterp
retation of the T4 stage. Demonstration of cartilage involvement was e
asier with MRT (88%) than with CT (84%). The use of Gd-DTPA with T1 we
ighted and proton weighted sequences allows earlier diagnosis of carti
lage invasion. Early cartilage involvement may be missed by CT when it
is seen on MRT. In addition, the ability to produce coronal and sagit
tal images by MRT makes this superior to CT in judging tumour extensio
n.