[The integrated PET/CT: technological advance in diagnostics of head and neck recurrencies and CUP?]

In the last years (18)F-Fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) worked satisfactorily as auxiliary method in order to show recurrency of head and neck tumors and to detect primary tumors in case of CUP especially when CT and MR imaging failed to identify the tumor accurately. The correlation of FDG hypermetabolism and anatomical structures is now provided by a new technology which is integrating PET and CT: Integrated PET/CT represents a new technical development, which combines the advantages of CT and PET.

In a retrospective investigation 84 non selected PET/CT studies of 83 patients with recurrent head and neck disease and CUP were critically analyzed.

33 cases had positive PET findings. 5 of these 33 cases showed false-positive findings. In 51 PET studies there was not found any sign of suspicious FDG hypermetabolism.

Integrated PET/CT delivers substantial progress in detecting tumor localization. False positive findings have to be considered and therefore indications should be strictly limited to special cases of head and neck tumor recurrency, cases with complex anatomical sites and CUP.