The usefulness of FDG-PET in diagnosis head and neck cancer – report of two cases *
Our facilities introduced FDG-PET last December. FDG-PET（2-［18F］fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography）reflects metabolic glucose at the site of a tumor and high virulent uptake of glucose. Head and neck cancer came under the coverage of medical policies in2002. FDG-PET is clinically useful in detecting head and neck cancers by providing an accurate estimate of the primary cancer and of metastatic lymph nodes, especially in cancers that are equivocal on conventional imaging. FDG-PET also reveals primary unknown cancers and metastatic lymph nodes that are not found by CT scan and MRI. FDG-PET makes it possible to simultaneously detect distant metastasis. Although it has only been a short time since we started using FDG-PET, it has been quite useful in clinical cases. It has proved effective in the detection and diagnosis of primary lesions in patients and of local recurrence. (Accepted on December 19，2007)
