[Scintigraphic imaging of head and neck cancers with 99m technetium (v) dimercaptosuccinic acid. A prospective...

In patients with cervical metastases conventional examination by ultrasound, CT or MRI imaging often fails to identify an unknown primary tumor. Also the retrieval of a recurrent malignancy may be difficult. Scintigraphy, utilizing technetium-99m (v) dimercaptosuccinic acid was chosen for a prospective study in 17 patients to evaluate its properties for imaging metastasizing squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Scintigraphic findings were correlated with the results of clinical examination and conventional imaging techniques. In all cases the primary tumor revealed good uptake of 99mTc(v)DMSA. Manifest cervical metastases could only be imaged in some cases. In future, therefore, 99mTc(v)DMSA scanning may be used for the detection of unknown primary tumors. However, it does not appear helpful in the evaluation of cervical nodes.