The Feasibility of 18‐FLT PET for the Detection of Metastatic Lymph Node of Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

Objective: Investigate the diagnostic efficacy of FLT PET for evaluating the nodal metastatic lymph nodes in head and neck cancers. Method: The diagnosis of metastatic lymph nodes was based on CT findings. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value with FLT PET were determined based on CT findings. Ten patients underwent surgical treatment, and those cases were all evaluated histopathologically. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value with FLT PET were 90%, 91%, 96%, and 80%, respectively. While the accuracy was 98% in the lymph nodes with a minimum diameter greater than 10 mm, the accuracy decreased to 80% in lymph nodes with a minimum diameter less than 10mm. A histopathological examination of 191 lymph nodes from 10 patients revealed that FLT PET had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for lymph node of 61%, 99%, 90%, and 93%, respectively. Conclusion: FLT PET was found to have a high sensitivity for detecting metastatic lymph nodes with a minimum diameter greater than 10 mm. However, it was difficult to detect the occult metastatic lymph nodes which could not be detected with CT imaging.