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Virtual 3-D 18F-FDG PET/CT panendoscopy for assessment of the upper airways of head and neck cancer patients: a feasibility study

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a virtual 3-D 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT panendoscopy is feasible and can be used for noninvasive imaging of the upper airways and pharyngeal/laryngeal tumours.

Methods

From 18F-FDG PET/CT data sets of 40 patients (29 men, 11 women; age 61 ± 9 years) with pharyngeal or laryngeal malignancies virtual 3-D 18F-FDG PET/CT panendoscopies were reconstructed and the image processing time was measured. The feasibility of assessing the oral cavity, nasopharynx, tongue base, soft palate, pharyngeal tonsils, epiglottis, aryepiglottic folds, piriform sinus, postcricoid space, glottis, subglottis, trachea, bronchi and oesophagus and of detecting primary tumours was tested. Results of fibre-optic bronchoscopy and histology served as the reference standard.

Results

The nasopharynx, tongue base, soft palate, pharyngeal tonsils, epiglottis, subglottis and the tracheobronchial tree were accessible in all 40, and the aryepiglottic folds, posterior hypopharyngeal wall, postcricoid space, piriform sinus, glottis, oral cavity and oesophagus in 37, 37, 37, 37, 33, 16 and 0 patients, respectively. In all 12 patients with restricted fibre-optic evaluation due to being primarily intubated, the subglottis was accessible via virtual panendoscopy. The primary tumour was depicted in 36 of 40 patients (90 %). The mean processing time for virtual 18F-FDG PET/CT panendoscopies was 145 ± 98 s.

Conclusion

Virtual 18F-FDG PET/CT panendoscopy of the upper airways is technically feasible and can detect pharyngeal and laryngeal malignancies. This new tool can aid in the complete evaluation of the subglottic space in intubated patients and may be used for planning optical panendoscopies, biopsies and surgery in the future.

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Conflicts of interest

Jon Treffert is an employee of Siemens Health Care, Molecular Imaging, Knoxville, TN, USA. Bernhard Geiger is an employee of Siemens Corporate Research Inc., Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Faculty, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Düsseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Christian Buchbender, Gerald Antoch & Till A. Heusner

  2. Medical Faculty, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Duisburg-Essen, 45147, Essen, Germany

    Christian Buchbender, Michael Forsting & Till A. Heusner

  3. Molecular Imaging, Siemens Health Care, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Jon Treffert

  4. Medical Faculty, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Duisburg-Essen, 45147, Essen, Germany

    Götz Lehnerdt & Stefan Mattheis

  5. Siemens Corporate Research Inc., Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA

    Bernhard Geiger

  6. Medical Faculty, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Duisburg-Essen, 45147, Essen, Germany

    Andreas Bockisch

Authors
  1. Christian Buchbender
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  2. Jon Treffert
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  3. Götz Lehnerdt
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  4. Stefan Mattheis
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  5. Bernhard Geiger
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  6. Andreas Bockisch
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  7. Michael Forsting
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  8. Gerald Antoch
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  9. Till A. Heusner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Till A. Heusner.

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Buchbender, C., Treffert, J., Lehnerdt, G. et al. Virtual 3-D 18F-FDG PET/CT panendoscopy for assessment of the upper airways of head and neck cancer patients: a feasibility study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 39, 1435–1440 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-012-2152-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-012-2152-6

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