Clinical utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT in assessing the neck after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locoregional advanced head and neck cancer

For patients with locoregional advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), concurrent chemoradiotherapy is a widely accepted treatment, but the need for subsequent neck dissection remains controversial. We investigated the clinical utility of F-18-FDG PET/CT in this setting. Methods: In this Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)-compliant retrospective study, we reviewed the records of patients with HNSCC who were treated by concurrent chemoradiation therapy between March 2002 and December 2004. Patients with lymph node metastases who underwent F-18-FDG PET/CT 8 wk after the end of therapy were included. F-18-FDG PET/CT findings were validated by biopsy, histopathology of neck dissection specimens (n = 18), or clinical and imaging follow-up (median, 37 mo). Results: Sixty-five patients with a total of 84 heminecks could be evaluated. F-18-FDG PET/CT (visual analysis) detected residual nodal disease with a sensitivity of 71 %, a specificity of 89%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 38%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 97%, and an accuracy of 88%. Twenty-nine heminecks contained residual enlarged lymph nodes (diameter, >= 1.0 cm), but viable tumor was found in only 5 of them. F-18-FDG PET/CT was true-positive in 4 and false-positive in 6 heminecks, but the NPV was high at 94%. Fifty-five heminecks contained no residual enlarged nodes, and PET/CT was true-negative in 50 of these, yielding a specificity of 96% and an NPV of 98%. Lack of residual lymphadenopathy on CT had an NPV of 96%. Finally, normal F-18-FDG PET/CT excluded residual disease at the primary site with a specificity of 95%, an NPV of 97%, and an accuracy of 92%. Conclusion: In patients with HNSCC, normal F-18-FDG PET/CT after chemoradiotherapy has a high NPV and specificity for excluding residual locoregional disease. In patients without residual lymphadenopathy, neck dissection may be withheld safely. In patients with residual lymphadenopathy, a lack of abnormal F-18-FDG uptake in these nodes also excludes viable tumor with high certainty, but confirmation of these data in a prospective study may be necessary before negative F-18-FDG PET/CT may become the only, or at least most-decisive, criterion in the management of the neck after chemoradiotherapy.