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Updated: Jul 17, 2026
A Novel High-resolution In vivo Imaging Technique to Study the Dynamic Response of Intracranial Structures to Tumor Growth and Therapeutics
Published on: June 16, 2013
Integrated PET/CT system for staging and surveillance of skull base tumors
Ziv Gil1, Einat Even-Sapir, Nevo Margalit
1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ziv@baseofskull.org
Background:
The utility of preoperative and postoperative whole body integrated positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanning for staging and follow-up in patients with skull base tumors is undetermined.
Methods:
We prospectively evaluated PET-CT findings in 47 patients using 57 scans. Most (35/47, 75%) had anterior skull base tumors and the majority (74%) had advanced-stage (III-IV) disease.
Results:
The scans showed high sensitivity for detection of various types of malignant tumors and provided 39 items of additional information, changing the clinical staging and management of 11 patients (23%). Recurrence of primary tumors was detected in 8 patients, positive regional (neck) metastases in 3, and distant metastases in 3. The positive uptake was due to osteoradionecrosis in 2 other patients. The sensitivity of PET-CT was 0.77 and the specificity was 0.81 (0.83 positive predictive value and 0.76 negative predictive value).
Conclusions:
PET-CT provides accurate data on anatomy, tumor staging, and early disease recurrence in the skull base.
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