Imaging of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: From Staging to Surveillance

Abstract

In this review, the authors summarize the latest imaging methods and recommendations for each of the various steps in managing patients with head and neck cancer, from staging of disease to posttreatment surveillance. Because staging of head and neck cancers is different for various subsites of the head and neck, imaging is discussed separately for each. A separate discussion of imaging of perineural spread, occult primary tumors, and lymph nodes is followed by a discussion of paradigms for surveillance imaging in the posttreatment neck.

Keywords: CT; FDG-PET/CT; Head and neck cancer; Imaging; MRI; Squamous cell carcinoma; Staging; Surveillance.