Survival for Advanced Head, Neck Cancer Improvements May Be Related to PET

Clinical Question

Does positron emission tomography (PET) impact staging and survival in head and neck cancer?

Background: PET imaging has been widely adopted because of the increased sensitivity of PET in detecting occult nodal and distant metastases. It has been suggested that PET may lead to improvements in stage-specific survival by upstaging patients through detection of occult disease.

Study design: Retrospective chart review of adult patients diagnosed from 2008-2010 with head and neck carcinoma of the nasopharynx, oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, hypopharynx, salivary gland, and sinus for whom stage was known. PET was not used at these institutions prior to 2005. Multivariate and survival analysis of PET use were confined to the years between 2005 and 2008.