PET of the extracranial head and neck

This paper reports on high-resolution PET with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose which is an emerging method for imaging extracranial head and neck tumors. The normal PET anatomy as well as our experience with 23 patients with primary squamous cell carcinomas who underwent imaging will be presented with pathologic correlation. PET was effective in delineating and quantifying normal tissues, primary tumors, and both enlarged and nonenlarged metastatic nodes. Tumor response to irradiation and detection of recurrent tumor was more effectively assessed with PET than with any other modality. PET is likely to play an increasingly useful role in the management of extracranial neoplasms