Our study aimed to compare the additional diagnostic value of the multi-modal imaging evaluation, achieved combining Magnetic Resonance (in particular sequences using morphological STIR (Short Tau Inverison Recovery) sequences and Diffusion (Diffusion Weighted Imaging, DWI)) with [18FDG] -PET/TC (by combining images through a specific software platform) in the staging of tumors of the head and neck. In particular, we focused on the identification of lateral cervical lymph node metastases of these tumors and the evaluation of the trans-compartmental extension in the soft tissues and /...

In the period 2011-2012 we enrolled 25 patients affected by head and neck HNSCC tumour, at first diagnosis. Each patient after clinical and fibroscopic evaluation underwent to 18FDG-PET-CT and MRI with DWI in an interval of maximum 12 days. MRI and PET/CT were separately (blinded each other) read by an experienced Radiologist and Nuclear Medicine Specialist, on a read form with T and N parameters. A consensus reading was then performen on a dedicated workstation loaded with a co-registration and image fusion software. The Gold...

With regard to the extension of trans-compartmental tumor, in our study, PET / CT alone, showed values of sensitivity and specificity of 53%, respectively (ic 27.81% -77.02%) and 75% (ic 34.91% -96.81%) with diagnostic accuracy of 60% compared to an accuracy of about 88% of one RM. The low spatial resolution of functional PET / CT imaging compared to MRI has therefore not always made it possible to identify the infiltration of the soft tissues surrounding the tumor. With MRI-PET multimodal imaging we obtained overall...

Regarding staging of HNSCC, the evaluation of combined multimodal imaging of MR sequences with the PET / CT examination has allowed to recognize with greater accuracy the uptake of radiotracer which overlapped to the area of suspected infiltration, increasing, as featured in the obtained results, the value of the object of study of the parameters T and N. The integration of the two methods in multimodal joint evaluation showed a synergistic additional value that has allowed to increase the values of sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic...

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