Detection of cervical lymph node metastases of nasopharyngeal carcinomas with technetium-99m tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography and comparison with computed tomography
Yc. Shiau et al., Detection of cervical lymph node metastases of nasopharyngeal carcinomas with technetium-99m tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography and comparison with computed tomography, ANTICANC R, 21(1B), 2001, pp. 723-726
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of technetium-99m
tetrofosmin (Tc-99m TF) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
in the detection of cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis in nasopharyngeal c
arcinomas (NPC), and to compare Tc-99m TF SPECT results with computed tomog
raphy (CT) findings. Fifty patients with biopsy-proven NPC and suspected ce
rvical LN metastases underwent head and neck Tc-99m TF SPECT and CT to dete
ct cervical LN metastases. Cervical LN metastases of 40 patients were confi
rmed by histopathological examination of biopsy samples. For 22 LN lesions
with discordant results between Tc-99m TF SPECT and CT, Tc-99m TF SPECT cou
ld correctly detect 4 metastatic and 7 benign LN lesions while CT could cor
rectly detect 5 metastatic and 6 benign LN lesions. Agreement positive resu
lts of Tc-99m TF SPECT and CT could correctly detect all of the Is metastat
ic LN lesions. Tc-99m TF SPECT has a better specificity brit a lower sensit
ivity for detecting cervical LN metastases in NPC when compared with CT. Th
e combined rise of Tc-99m TF SPECT and CT could significantly increase the
accuracy of detect cervical LN metastases in NPC compared with the single u
se of either Tc-99m TF SPECT or CT.