[Regional lymph node metastases in malignant tumors of the head and neck: value of diagnostic procedures]

Abstract

Sonography and computed tomography are used in staging of lymph nodes of patients with head and neck cancer. The accuracy of sonography (90%) and computed tomography (85%) is comparable or better than the palpatory accuracy (85%). The better delineation of reactive swollen cervical nodes leads to a higher sensitivity of sonography (90%) and computed tomography (84%) versus palpation (74%), but a lower specifity (palpation 94%, sonography 90%, computed tomography 86%). A literature survey shows that sonography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of cervical lymph nodes are comparable good methods.