THE VALUE OF A ROUTINE BONE-SCAN IN A METASTATIC SURVEY

Objective: Currently, there is no uniformly accepted metastatic work-u p of the patient with head and neck cancer. Various protocols range fr om selected laboratory investigations and a chest x-ray to more extens ive radiologic screening surveys. Although it is desirable to have as much information available as possible prior to making a decision of o perability, one is confined by the cost of extensive investigations. T his study was conducted to evaluate the benefit of routine bone scanni ng preoperatively in these patients. Method: A retrospective study loo ked at a consecutive 172 patients undergoing a bone scan with respect to indication, diagnosis, scan result, and tumour stage. Results: Only three patients had a change in their management based on the bone sca n results. Conclusions: The incidence of bone metastases in the majori ty of patients' with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck do n ot warrant routine bone scans for investigation of metastases.