3D Tc-99m-DPD-SPECT reconstruction and fluorine-18 PET to assess mandibular invasion by intraoral squamous cell carcinoma: Diagnostic improvement?

Objective: A prospective study was designed to compare computer-aided 3D(99 m)Tc-DPD SPECT reconstruction, conventional Tc-99m-DPD SPECT investigation (n = 88) and flurine-18 PET (n = 10) in the assessment of mandibular bone i nvasion by SCC. Patients/methods: Between 10/97 and 03/00 88 patients with SCC of the mandi bular region were enrolled in this study. In 50 cases mandibular resection (segmental or marginal) was performed basing on the pretherapeutic diagnost ic results. Results: No differences could be found between 3D Tc-99m-DPD SPECT reconstr uction and conventional Tc-99m-DPD SPECT investigation. Both techniques rev ealed the same high sensitivity (100%) and the same specificity of 91.6 (ef ficiency 95.4%). Flurine-18 PET showed a sensitivity of 100%, but specifici ty only reached 50% (efficiency 60.0%). Conclusion: This investigation does not provide evidence that the financial and time consuming techniques of computer-aided 3D Tc-99m-DPD SPECT recons truction and flurine-18 PET show advantages compared to conventional Tc-99m -DPD SPECT investigation in the assessment of mandibular invasion by SCC.