Abstract
Background: Thallium-201 (201Tl) has come to be widely used in the diagnosis of several kinds of malignant tumor, but its usefulness in diagnosing head and neck cancer has not been established. Purpose: This study investigated the usefulness of201Tl SPECT imaging in patients with head and neck cancer histologically confirmed. Methods: Eighteen patients with histologically proven head and neck cancer were studied.201Tl SPECT images were obtained both 15 min and 4 hours after intravenous injection of 148 MBq of201Tl-chloride.201Tl-indices were calculated semiquantitatively to assess the tracer uptake in relation to tumor size and histological type. Results: High201Tl uptake was noted in all primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes on the both early and delayed images, but201Tl-indices did not show any correlation with tumor size or histological type. Conclusion: Primary head and neck cancer and lymph node metastasis can be effectively visualized with201Tl SPECT. It may provide information in addition to morphological changes and may be a supplemental method to use in the evaluation of head and neck cancer.
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Nagamachi, S., Hoshi, H., Jinnouchi, S. et al. 201TI SPECT for evaluating head and neck cancer. Ann Nucl Med 10, 105–111 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03165062
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03165062