The application value of positron emission tomography-CT and CT enhanced scan in the diagnosis and treatment of hypopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the value of clinical application of fluorine-18-deoxyglucose(18F-FDG) positron emission tomography(PET-CT) and CT enhanced scan in the diagnosis of primary lesion of hypopharyngeal lesions, cervical lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. Methods Forty-four clinical cases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were collected from October 2011 to August 2012 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University of The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive values of PET-CT and CT enhanced scan, and their advantages and disadvantages in the diagnose of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were compared. Results PET-CT was better than CT enhanced scan in the diagnosis of hypopharyngeal primary tumors, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis in the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive values. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT enhanced scan in diagnosing primary tumor of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were 97.44%(38/29), 3/5 and 93.18%(41/44), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in diagnosing primary tumor of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were 100.00%(20/20), 1/1 and 100.00%(21/21). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CT Enhanced Scan in diagnosing neck lymph node metastasis of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were 73.91%(17/23), 52.38%(11/21) and 63.64%(28/44), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT in diagnosing neck lymph node metastasis of hypopharyngeal carcinoma were 16/16, 4/5 and 95.24%(20/21) respectively, with statistically significant difference(all P values 0.05). Conclusions PET/CT is superior to simple neck and chest enhancement CT in the diagnosis of primary lesion of hypopharyngeal carcinoma, cervical lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. There are no statistical differences in the advantages for primary lesion and distant metastasis. However, PET/CT shows higher diagnostic capability and statistically significant superiority in the sensitivity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive values of cervical lymph node metastasis. Key words: Hypopharyngeal neoplasms; Positron-emission tomography; Tomograph, X-ray computed; Neoplasm metastasis